Feathers
by HeyAssButtImBatman
Summary: Sam and Dean Winchester meet new kids Castiel and Gabriel Novak and a close friendship is quickly formed. But the Novak family hides a secret, one that even Cas and Gabe don't know about. When the secret is revealed, can Sam and Dean save their friends in time or will they be lost to the past that their family tried so hard to hide from? A Supernatural high school AU.
1. Chapter 1

**Dean's POV**

The annoying beeping of his alarm woke Dean up at five in the morning, way too early in his opinion. He turned off his alarm and dropped out of bed, literally. Cursing under his breath and rubbing his back, he made his way over to his bathroom. He took a quick shower and brushed his teeth, then picked something to wear from his closet.

He was still yawning one hour later as he made his way downstairs. He could see Sam already at the table, eating breakfast and reading a book.

"Morning, Dean," he said without looking up.

"Morning," Dean grumbled back. He could see Sam smirk, but he wisely didn't say anything about Dean still being half asleep. He poured himself a bowl of cereal and sat down across from Sam. "Where's Dad?"

Sam stiffened a little and Dean could see an angry glare in his eyes. "Where else?"

Dean held back his sigh and finished his cereal. Dad was never here. Ever since Dean had been old enough to watch over Sam, he had practically been absent from their lives. He only spent a few hours a day at home, and most if not all of them were spent sleeping. He didn't purposely ignore them, he just was more into his work than he was into being a father.

They finished their breakfast in silence and Dean headed to the living room. Plopping on the couch, he let out a little sigh. Today was his first day of senior year. He wasn't worried about finals or anything, he had already been accepted into a college. No, he was worried about Sam.

Sam was a great kid, he had lots of friends, but it was his first day of freshman year and Dean knew that there were some major dicks in their school. But he was just being overprotective, as usual. He'd be fine.

"Dean, come on! We have to go!" Sam's voice pulled him from his trance and he looked at the clock. It was already 6:50 and school started at 7:15.

He grabbed his backpack and headed out the door. They hopped into the Impala, a birthday gift from Dad, and started the quick drive to Lawrence High School.

When they arrived at the school, it took Dean five minutes to find a parking spot and by that time the bell had already rung. He gave Sam his schedule and they rushed off to class. He just barely made it into his seat in the back of his homeroom class before the second bell rang. The teacher gave him a disapproving glare, but he ignored her.

He pulled out his phone and debated on whether or not to text Sam. He eventually decided that it wasn't worth the risk, and put his phone back in his pocket.

The teacher started going over the rules, the same thing she said every year on the first day. Tuning her out, Dean let his eyes wander over the other students. He knew most of these kids, but none of them were friends. There was one boy who caught his attention, though.

Lawrence was a small town, and it didn't normally get a lot of new kids. When one showed up, it was kind of a big deal. This new kid was sitting right next to Dean, in the most secluded seat in the room

He was pretty tall from what he could tell, but not as tall as Dean. He had messy black hair, bright blue eyes, and was actually pretty good looking. The new kid was wearing a plain white dress shirt with a blue tie, black skinny jeans, and black Chucks. He didn't look nervous, as one would expect, but his face held an expression of extreme concentration.

He was drawing in a large notepad, the corner of his tongue poking out of his mouth a little. Dean decided that he wanted to be friends with this strange boy, but he had no idea why. He didn't know what to say to start a conversation, but luckily he didn't have to because the boy turned to Dean and spoke first.

 **Sam's POV**

Sam raced through the halls, looking for his homeroom class. He managed to slip in just as the bell rang. The stern looking teacher had his back turned, and Sam quietly slid into a seat in the back of the room. He looked around, slightly disappointed when he didn't see any of his friends.

He pulled out his book and started reading, ignoring the teacher and other kids. Well, he was trying to ignore them. The boy sitting next to Sam had other ideas. He was poking Sam in the arm, trying to get his attention. Irritated, Sam turned around to tell him to knock it off, but the boy spoke before Sam could.

"If x plus four to the second power is equal to y minus twenty, would y equal x plus thirty-six, or x minus four?"

Sam blinked in surprise and stared at the boy. He looked to be about Sam's height and had dark blonde hair that came to the top of his neck. His eyes were honey colored and he seemed to have a permanent smirk on his face. Sam would have taken him for the annoying pest type had he not just asked a question like that.

"Uh, y would equal x plus thirty-six," Sam answered. "You have to add twenty to both sides to isolate y."

"Oh, right! I always forget that part." The boy scribbled something down on a piece of paper before shoving it unceremoniously into his backpack and turning back to Sam. "I'm Gabriel Novak."

"Sam Winchester."

Gabriel pulled out a lollipop out of his bag and put it into his mouth before pulling out another and offering it to Sam. Smiling, he took the candy and slipped it into his pocket even though he knew he wouldn't eat it.

"What are you reading?" Gabriel asked. Sam looked at the book in his lap, then back up at Gabriel.

"You probably don't read this type of book," Sam said. Gabriel rolled his eyes.

"At least tell me the title."

"Peter and the Starcatchers."

Gabriel's eyes widened and he smiled. "I love that book! It's such a good series!"

"It's a series?"

"Yeah, that one is the first. Then there's Peter and the Shadow Thieves, Peter and the Secret of Rundoon, Peter and the Sword of Mercy, and the last one is called Bridge to Neverland. Personally, I think that the last one ruined the whole book series."

Sam and Gabriel talked for the whole period, first about the book series, then about anything that crossed their minds. Sam found that they actually had quite a lot in common and was delighted to find that they shared six of their eight periods.

The boys walked to their next class together, and sat next to one another in the back of the room so they could talk without the teacher noticing. Sam felt a buzzing in his pocket and pulled out his phone. It was a text from Dean, of course.

 **Dean: How's high school so far?**

 **Sam: It's fine. I met this kid named Gabriel, he just moved here.**

 **Dean: Is his last name Novak?**

 **Sam: How'd you know?**

 **Dean: Cuz I just met his brother.**

 **Sam: Cool. Do we have the same lunch period?**

 **Dean: Yeah, why?**

 **Sam: I want to meet Gabriel's brother and I want you to meet Gabriel**

 **Dean: Sounds like a plan, Sammy. See you at lunch.**

The bell rang and Sam put his phone away. He turned to Gabriel excitedly.

"My brother just texted me, he said he met your brother."

Gabriel smiled. "What a weird coincidence, two pairs of brothers becoming friends like this. Assuming my brother and yours actually _are_ friends, that is."

They were forced to stop talking when the teacher started passing out work, but the rest of the classes flew by, and before he knew it, it was lunch.

 **Castiel's POV**

Castiel groaned when he got up. It was his first day at a new school. He wasn't nervous, he just thought that school was annoying. He showered and ate breakfast quickly, and then went to wake his brother Gabriel.

He was a little surprised when he found the boy already dressed, sitting on his bed and scribbling madly in a notebook. Gabriel never got up on his own, ever. Ever since he could remember, it had been his job to look after the youngest Novak.

Their parents had gone missing a few years ago, and the four younger Novak children, Gabriel, Castiel, Raphael, and Lucifer, had moved in with their eldest brother Michael. Lucifer and Raphael were away at college, and Michael was busy with work, so the only person left to take care of their younger brother was Castiel.

"Michael woke me up, I've already eaten, and yes, I'm ready to go whenever you are," Gabriel said before Castiel could even ask anything. He checked the time and saw that they had only twenty minutes to get to class on time, and the school was a good ten minute walk away.

"Good," Castiel said. "Then let's go, we're going to be late." Gabriel and Castiel grabbed their stuff and headed off to made it with ten minutes to spare, and Castiel helped Gabriel find his classroom before heading off to his own.

When he finally reached the room, he ignored the curious stares and chose a seat in the very farthest corner so he wouldn't be disturbed. He pulled out his notepad and pencil and started working on the drawing he had started last week.

It was a picture of a pair of wings, looking so life-like that Castiel felt he could touch them and feel feathers. He loved drawing feathers, loved the tiny details that would take hours to complete. He was so absorbed in his drawing that he didn't realize someone else had walked into the room until he sat next to Castiel.

Out of the corner of his eye Castiel could see a guy, taller than himself and pretty handsome, actually. He had bright green eyes, dirty blonde hair and lots of freckles. He was wearing a plain black t-shirt with a brown leather jacket over top, dark blue jeans, and Timberlands. Castiel went back to his drawing after his little analysis. He needed to get this done, and he only had a few more strokes to make.

Finally finished, Castiel put down his pencil and turned to the kid sitting next to him. He put his drawing onto the guy's desk.

"What do you think?" he asked. He had to admit, he was showing off a little. But he knew he was very good and just wanted a little appreciation of his talents.

The kid looked startled for a moment before turning to the drawing. Castiel saw his eyes widen and felt a little bit of pride bloom in his chest.

"You drew this?" the kid asked.

"Yup. I've been working on it for a week. Do you like it?"

"Yeah, this is incredible!"

Castiel smiled and ripped the piece of paper out of his sketch pad.

"Keep it," he said, handing the drawing over. "Art is supposed to make others happy, so it wouldn't make sense for me to hold on to it."

The kid smiled and carefully slipped the drawing into his binder, then put the binder back into his backpack. "I'm Dean Winchester," he said.

"Castiel Novak."

"That's a pretty strange name."

"Tell me about it. My parents went a little overboard when they named me."

Dean laughed and Castiel laughed with him. The two talked for the entire forty-five minute period, then found that they shared five classes. They went to their next class and sat next to each other. Dean knew quite a lot of people in this class, but didn't ostracize Castiel. He introduced Castiel to all of his friends, and Castiel found them to be really nice, especially this chick named Charlie Bradbury.

Castiel looked over at Dean and saw him texting someone. The teacher chose that moment to get up and start prowling around the classroom. Dean didn't notice, but Castiel did.

"Eacher-tay oming-cay," he hissed loudly. To his surprise, Dean immediately put away his phone and pretended to be working on the assignment they had been given.

"Anks-thay," he whispered when the teacher had passed.

"Oo-yay owe-knay ig-pay atin-lay?"

"Of ourse-cay. Oh, hey, I just texted my brother, Sam, and he said he met your brother Gabriel. They want to meet up with us for lunch."

"Okay," Castiel agreed, and the time until lunch flew by.

 **Gabriel's POV**

Gabriel and Sam exited the lunch line with their trays in hand. They scoured the bustling cafeteria for their brothers. Sam nudged him and pointed to a table by the open window, where Gabriel could see Castiel and another guy who Gabriel assumed was Dean.

The two freshmen made their way over to the table and slid onto the bench across from the seniors. Castiel smiled at Gabriel.

"How's high school going?" he asked.

"Not any different from middle school," Gabriel answered. Beside him, Sam nodded. "Oh, Cas, this is my friend Sam."

Sam looked at Dean. "Dean, this is my friend Gabriel."

"Hi," they all said in unison, then laughed. Sam and Castiel quickly discovered their similar interest in books and started talking about the symbolism of the Patronuses in Harry Potter, something that Gabriel already knew far too much about. He eyed the rabbit food on Sam's plate with disgust, then dug into his own sugar filled meal.

Dean was watching Sam and Cas with amusement as he ate his pizza, and Gabriel and him laughed when Sam and Cas both had to stop and pant for air because of how much they were talking. Dean started humming a song by the Beatles, and Gabriel dropped his lollipop onto his tray.

"I love that song!" he exclaimed. Dean looked at him like Christmas had come early, then his face turned into one of mock suspicion.

"No way!" he said. "You're too young to know the Beatles."

Gabriel narrowed his eyes and heard Cas mutter a quiet "Uh-oh". Cas knew how Gabriel was about proving points, and how much of a drama queen he was. To prove Dean wrong, Gabriel decided to take drastic action. He stood up on the bench and soon everyone was looking at him. He opened his mouth and belted out the lyrics to Hey Jude, the song Dean claimed he was too young to know.

He couldn't help the smile that split his face when he started singing. His brother may have been gifted with artistic talent, but Gabriel was an amazing singer and he loved using his voice to perform. By the time he had finished the song, Sam and Dean were staring up at him in awe, Cas looked like he would die from embarrassment, and the entire cafeteria was applauding and cheering.

Still grinning like an idiot, Gabriel took a few bows before sitting down again. He gave Dean a smug look as he bit into his cupcake.

"That was...incredible," Dean finally managed. Gabriel smiled wider and turned to his brother.

"I ike-lay ese-thay inchester-Way's," he said. Sam snickered.

"E-way peak-say ig-pay atin-lay, oo-tay," he said, and Gabriel blushed.

"Good to know," he mumbled, ignoring Castiel and Dean's laughter, and focusing instead on the many people coming up to tell him what an amazing voice he had.

All too soon, lunch was over and the four found themselves parting ways again. Sam and Gabriel headed off to history while Dean and Cas went to math. Gabriel and Sam had to run to get to class on time and they were panting by the time they reached the classroom. Laughing breathlessly, they entered the room and found two seats in the back, as usual.

"I have a confession to make, Sam," Gabriel said. Sam turned towards him expectantly and waited. Gabriel fidgeted for a few seconds before leaning in and whispering conspiratorially in Sam's ear. "I suck so bad at history that up until last year I thought the Revolutionary War was fought in the 1990's."

Sam snorted, causing several people to look back at them. Sam laughed into his elbow, muffling the sound and Gabriel couldn't hold back his own chuckles.

"I'll help you," Sam promised when their laughter fit subsided.

"Thanks," Gabriel said. "You know, I wasn't kidding about that Revolution bit, I really did think it was a 90's thing." That set them both off again and they had a hard time keeping the laughter as quiet.

When the laughter died down, Gabriel looked over at Sam. He had tears in his eyes from laughing so hard and his hands were clutching his stomach. Gabriel felt a little rush of warmth for Sam, his first friend in a new town. He even thought of Dean as a friend, even though he didn't know him as well as he knew Sam.

Gabriel had been a little nervous about starting high school with no friends, but it seems like he had nothing to worry about after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Dean's POV**

After school, Dean was waiting by the Impala for Sam. Castiel was sitting on the hood of the car, chatting about some new movie that just came out. Dean was hanging onto his every word, something very unusual for the older Winchester.

"I really want to go see it," Cas said. "But Gabriel isn't into horror that much and I don't want to go by myself."

"I'll go with you," Dean offered, surprising even himself. But seeing the way Castiel's blue eyes lit up with happiness, he didn't regret it.

"Really? Thanks, Dean!" Castiel pulled out his phone to look up movie times. They agreed on Saturday at midnight, the witching hour as Castiel calls it.

Dean finally spotted Sam and Gabriel heading towards the car. The freshmen were angry about something, shouting indignantly and waving their hands around as they walked. When they got closer, the seniors were able to pick up on what the conversation was about.

"It's outrageous!" Sam said, and Gabriel nodded in agreement.

"She's completely evil," he said. "Of all the things wrong with the world, this is the worst."

"What happened?" asked Castiel. He had an amused look on his face as he looked at his brother and his new friend.

"Mrs. Pritchett gave us homework!" Gabriel shouted.

"On the first day! It's injustice!" Sam cried.

Dean laughed and wrapped an arm around Sam's shoulders. "Did you finish it in class?"

"Of course," Sam and Gabriel replied in unison, looking insulted that Dean would ask such a question.

"Then what's the problem?" Cas asked.

"It's the principle," Sam explained. "She had no way of knowing that we would finish in class, therefore she assumed that we would be doing homework at home."

"And," Gabriel chimed in, "that means that she purposefully tried to ruin our afternoon by making us write a three paragraph letter explaining why rules are important when we could be using the daylight to do something actually useful."

Castiel and Dean looked at each other.

"That is kind of evil," Cas said, and Dean nodded. Thrilled that they had the seniors on their side, Sam and Gabriel cheered up and started talking about the movie that Cas and Dean were going to see. Just as Castiel had said, Gabriel expressed how much he hated horror movies.

Dean had to forcefully drag Sam into the car to get him to stop talking so they could go home, but he and Gabriel continued their conversation, even when Castiel manhandled Gabriel along the sidewalk on their way home.

The freshmen continued yelling together until the Impala drove away and the Novaks were just tiny points in the distance. Sam turned to him with an annoyed look on his face.

"I was talking," he said, pouting, and Dean laughed again.

"I know, that's why I had to force you into the car," Dean replied. Sam glared at him and pulled out his book, leaving Dean alone with his thoughts.

For some reason, Dean couldn't get a certain blue-eyed brunette out of his head. Dean had spent nearly the whole day with Castiel, even eating lunch with him and their brothers. He had a lot of classes with his friends, and had introduced Castiel to all of them, but had chosen the company of the new kid over the people he had grown up with.

Maybe it was just that Castiel was something new, something different. Dean just wanted to figure him out, find out what made Castiel, well, Castiel. At least, that's what he told himself. He ignored the way he got all nervous when Cas spoke to him, pretended that he didn't get so happy when he saw Castiel's blue eyes that he could jump around screaming at the top of his lungs.

He wasn't gay, so he just pretended that those feelings didn't exist, that he was just happy to have made a new friend. Of course that's all it was.

The drive home seemed a lot quicker than normal, and Dean didn't ever remember most of it. He pulled into the driveway and froze, letting the engine idle. Sam looked up from his book and gasped a little. Sitting in the driveway next to the Impala was another car, one they only ever saw for a few hours every night.

Their father's car, and that meant one thing: Dad was home.

 **Castiel's POV**

The walk home seemed a lot shorter than it had that morning, though Gabriel's nonstop chatter about Sam and Dean Winchester may have helped. Honestly, Castiel couldn't stop thinking about the Winchesters, too, especially Dean.

Castiel was not one to be bothered by being alone, but now he found himself dreading the thought of going to school without Dean being there. It was very weird, considering that they had only met that morning, and Castiel was just a little freaked out by it.

He had never believed in love at first sight, but he didn't know how else to describe how he felt about Dean. He was in love with the color of Dean's eyes, the way his freckles were splattered all over his nose. But maybe that was just the artist in him coming out. Yeah, that was it, he just loved the parts of Dean that were like the things he liked to draw. Castiel wasn't gay, so why would he feel these things about some random boy?

"Castiel, are you okay?" Gabriel's voice cut through Cas' thoughts and he looked around to find himself in front of his house.

"Of course, why?" Castiel asked. Gabriel narrowed his eyes and looked suspiciously at his brother.

"You just ran into the door and didn't even notice." Castiel blushed and pushed open the front door. He ignored Gabriel's laughter and set his backpack down in his room before heading off to the kitchen.

Michael snuck out of his office and grabbed Gabriel, throwing him over his shoulder and walking into the kitchen. Gabriel wriggled and fought and screamed, but Michael just held on tighter and looked at Castiel.

"So, how was your first day?" he asked casually, taking no notice when Gabriel started pounding on his back, demanding to be released.

"It was fine," Cas answered, taking a bite of his apple.

"Good, good. Well, I'm just going to take out the trash, I'll be back in a minute." And despite Gabriel's renewed efforts, he managed to walk to the front door, set Gabriel down outside, and shut the door before the youngest Novak could run back in.

Castiel ignored the doorbell, which would probably break from how much Gabriel was pressing it, and went up to his room. He took another bite of his apple and sat down at his desk. He wanted to start a new drawing, thinking it appropriate that an artist have at least one project going at all times. And since he had finished his wings, he needed something else to occupy his free time.

He finished his apple and threw it in his trash can, then grabbed his sketchpad and a pencil and sat on his bed. Inspiration was pretty easy for Castiel to find, it had been ever since he was little. Like how he had seen a feather charm on some girl's bracelet and come up with the idea to draw a pair of wings. Right now, though, his thoughts were full of green eyes and freckles, leather jackets and chains on wallets. Sighing in frustration, he did a technique he had been taught by his mother when he was four. He closed his eyes and started to draw randomly, letting his thoughts wander and take shape on the page.

He didn't know how long he sat there, just thinking and drawing, when a noise from his window brought him back to the present. Cas snapped open his eyes and saw Gabriel climbing through his open window, swearing under his breath.

"Michael wouldn't let me in the freaking front door, so I had to get creative," he said in reply to Castiel's questioning gaze. "That tree by your window has a branch that comes close enough to your window where I managed to grab the window sill."

Still grumbling softly, he left Castiel's room and stomped downstairs. Castiel heard him yelling at Michael, then his older brother's loud laughter. Smiling, he looked down to see what he had drawn and felt his smirk drop almost instantly.

Sitting on the page, smiling up at Castiel, was a picture of Dean.

 **Sam's POV**

Sam felt his heart lurch in his chest and had to blink to assure himself that he wasn't just seeing things. He wasn't. Their father was actually home, during the day no less! He looked at Dean and saw his shock and hope mirrored on his brother's face.

As quickly as they could, they grabbed their stuff and ran to the front door, nearly knocking it down in their haste to get inside. They threw their stuff haphazardly into the living room and walked into the kitchen, where a shuffling noise could be heard.

Sitting at the table was their father. He looked as tired as he always did the few times Sam had actually seen the man. John was going through the mail, but he looked up and smiled when his sons entered the kitchen.

"How was your first day of school?" he asked, as if this was a regular thing. He frowned a little when neither one of them answered and came to stand in front of Sam. The fourteen-year-old was in a slight state of shock. "Are you alright, Dan?" And those four words snapped Sam out of his stupor.

"Sam," he hissed.

"What?"

"My name is Sam, which you'd know if you were ever actually here."

Without another word, he grabbed his backpack and stormed off to his room, slamming the door behind him. He was beyond angry that this man who claimed to be their father would come to their home and ask how their day was, would forget his own son's name, would pretend to care when he so obviously didn't.

Sam had been only a few months old when their mother had died, but Dean said that it had changed their father. He had become obsessed with his work and only came home for a few hours before Sam and Dean went to bed.

Then, when Sam was eight and Dean was twelve, he had declared Dean old enough to care for himself and his brother and had started coming home later and later. It got to the point where the boys would be lucky to catch a glimpse of their father every week, and had been like that ever since.

Sam didn't want anything to do with John Winchester. And he figured he never would.

Dean knocked on his door twenty minutes later. Sam had heard yelling coming from both his brother and his father, but hadn't gotten up. Dean walked in and stood by the door

"Are you alright?" Dean asked the same question his father had. Sam wiped at his watery eyes and sat up on his bed.

"I'm fine," he said. Dean sat down next to him and hugged him with one arm. For a few minutes they didn't say anything, then Dean broke the silence.

"I found out why he's here," he said. Sam gave him a questioning glance. "He said that he just wanted to spend time with us, but I saw one of his letters and it said that he's been transferred to Texas."

Sam frowned. "He's moving us to Texas?" Sam couldn't believe the nerve of his father, pretending to care just so that he could manipulate them to suit his work schedule.

"He wanted to, but I convinced him that it was better if you and I stayed here."

"How'd you manage that?"

"I just reminded him that we were more than capable of taking care of ourselves. Besides, I'm eighteen. I can totally take care of you."

"But how are we going to buy food and pay the mortgage and stuff?"

"He's still paying for the house, and he's going to send us weekly checks for food and clothes and stuff."

"We won't ever see him again, will we?" Sam asked, and found that he wasn't at all saddened by the thought.

"I don't think so," Dean replied, and Sam couldn't detect a trace of sadness in his voice, either.

 **Gabriel POV**

Still a little peeved off at Michael, Gabriel decided to go to the park that he had discovered a few weeks ago. It was a large forest with a small playground in the middle of it. There were paths twisting through the trees, but Gabriel had discovered a small clearing a little ways off one of the paths. He had made it his hideout, and no one but him knew it even existed.

He walked quickly through the trees, and found himself in the clearing. Looking around, he spotted a tree with low branches on the opposite side of the clearing. He pulled himself as high as he could go without falling, then pulled out the notepad he had brought along with him.

This was Gabriel's journal, where he wrote down anything that came to his mind about anything. Between the covers one would find lyrics to Gabriel's favorite songs, drawings Castiel had made for him, things Gabriel wrote down whenever he needed to vent.

Gabriel pulled out a mini tape dispenser from his pocket and looked around the tree. He had chosen this tree for a reason, something he had spotted the last time he had come here. He finally found it and pulled it off the branch he had hidden it on in case someone else found the clearing. In his hand he held a leaf, ordinary in shape, but very unusual in color.

It was the end of summer, the leaves were all still green and healthy. But this leaf was a kaleidoscope of fall colors, the top being a deep red and transitioning down to yellow at the bottom. He knew that Castiel was always looking for inspiration and had wanted to bring it back last time. But he hadn't had anything to carry it in and didn't want to just hold it in case something happened.

Carefully, Gabriel taped the leaf to a clean page in his journal and put both things back in his jacket pocket. He jumped down from the tree, narrowly avoiding landing wrong and breaking something, and headed home. The walk helped clear his mind a little, but he got lost in thought and didn't realize he had gone in a circle three times until he tripped over a rock.

Swinging his arms madly he managed to catch himself and looked around in confusion. It was getting dark, and Gabriel figured that he must have been out for several hours. Making sure to stay attuned to his surroundings this time, he took the quickest path home, knowing that Michael and Castiel would be worried sick.

He was right. As soon as Gabriel stepped through the front door Castiel and Michael were on top of him, checking him for injuries and making sure he was alright. When they had assured themselves that he was fine, they remembered their anger. The yelling lasted twenty minutes and both of Gabe's older brothers were hoarse by the time they were finished.

"Are you done?" he asked when they paused for breath.

"Gabriel, this isn't funny!" Michael yelled.

"You could have been dead for all we know," Castiel chimed in. "You weren't answering our calls or texts, you didn't tell us where you had gone, you didn't even let us know that you were leaving the house in the first place!"

Gabriel checked his phone and saw that he had 45 texts and 13 missed calls from Michael and Castiel. Oops.

"I'm sorry," he muttered. "I wasn't going to be gone long, I swear, I just lost track of the time."

Michael sighed and rubbed his eyes. "It's okay," he said at last. "You're fine and that's all that matters. But don't do this again, Gabriel, or I swear I will ground you for a month." Gabriel nodded quickly and practically ran upstairs when Michael dismissed him. He put the tape away and pulled out his journal.

The page with the leaf on it was carefully torn out and Gabriel headed to Castiel's room. He knocked and waited until he heard a muffled "Come in" before entering. Castiel was sitting on his bed, frowning at his sketchpad.

"What are you staring at?" Gabriel asked, and was confused when Cas blushed and hastily shoved it under his pillow.

"Nothing," he said. "What do you want, Gabriel?"

Gabriel sat on Castiel's bed and pulled the page from his pocket.

"I wanted to give you this. I figured that you could use it for inspiration, or something."

Castiel took the page and looked at the leaf with wonder in his eyes.

"How strange, especially for this time of year. Thanks, Gabe. I actually was looking for something to do for my next project."

Pleased at having done something for his older brother, Gabriel headed back to his room and plopped down on the bed. He thought back to what had happened at the park. Specifically a certain creepy man that Gabriel could have sworn was staring at him. It was unnerving, but Gabriel hadn't mentioned it because he hadn't wanted to freak Castiel and Michael out more than they already had.

 _It's probably nothing,_ he told himself. He had no idea how wrong he was, and he went through the rest of the evening not noticing the eyes that watched their house, eyes belonging to the man who had been watching Gabriel at the park.


	3. Chapter 3

**Dean's POV**

They didn't notice when their father left. The only indication they received that he was really gone was his room being empty the next morning and his car was gone. Dean couldn't be happier. Everything was the same as it had always been, except now there would be no more sadness every time Dad missed a birthday or didn't show up for weeks at a time.

The next morning, he got ready for school with renewed vigor, excited about seeing Castiel and the rest of his friends. Sam seemed to radiate the same energy, but Dean didn't ask about it. He wasn't going to bring up Dad.

"Hey, Dean, Sam," Castiel greeted when the Winchesters stepped out of their car. Dean grinned at his friend and he, Sam, Castiel, and Gabriel walked inside the building. Sam and Gabe headed towards their homeroom while Dean and Cas walked towards theirs.

They arrived on time today and slipped into two seats in the back. Like yesterday, Castiel pulled out his sketchpad, though he was extremely careful not to show Dean a certain page. Dean was curious, but didn't say anything. He was content to just watch Castiel draw, a leaf it looked like.

"So, Dean," Cas started, not looking up from his drawing.

"Hmm?" Dean answered.

"I have a favor to ask you."

"What is it?"

"Can you babysit Gabriel after school today?"

Dean blinked. He had not been expecting that.

"Cas, the kid's fourteen, he's old enough to take care of himself for a few hours."

Cas looked uncomfortable. "I know," he said. "It's just that my two older brothers are away at college, and my oldest brother is coming with me, so there's no one I trust enough to watch him. I just don't really feel comfortable with him being by himself, he's like a walking everything-hazard."

Dean couldn't respond for a moment. Castiel had just told him two very important things. He didn't have any parents, and he trusted Dean, whom he had just met, over any neighbors or whatever that he had known for at least a few months.

"Um, yeah I'll watch the kid," Dean finally said. "But why do you trust me so much? I mean, surely you have some neighbors that you've known longer."

Cas shrugged. "Yeah, I do. But I'm an excellent judge of character and I can tell that you're a trustworthy person." He went back to his drawing as if nothing had happened, and Dean was left looking at him, feeling a surge of warmth towards this boy who would trust him to care for his only little brother.

The period went by slow today, and Castiel had finished his outline with twenty minutes to spare. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a large pack of oil pastels. Dean caught a glimpse of the inside of his friend's backpack, and wasn't surprised that it was more art supplies than school supplies.

Castiel was flipping through his sketchbook, looking for something. Dean caught sight of something that made his eyebrows furrow in confusion.

"What's this?" he asked, grabbing the book and flipping back to the right page. Castiel tried to stop him from seeing it, but it was too late. Dean felt his eyes go wide at the picture staring back up at him. It was his face, perfect down to the last hair. The shading was incredible and it looked more like a photograph than a drawing. Castiel had left it black and white except for the eyes, which were the same bright green as the real Dean's eyes.

"Cars, this is incredible," he breathed. "How did you even manage to get all the details right without a picture or something?"

Castiel was blushing and wouldn't meet Dean's eyes. "I have a really good memory," he mumbled.

"You drew this from memory? God, Cas, that's amazing!" Castiel gave Dean a tentative smile and Dean gave back the sketchpad. The smaller boy flipped back to the page with the leaf on it and began to color it in. The top started out a deep red, but it grew lighter as the color went down, until the bottom was a bright yellow.

It only took ten minutes, and the two of them had plenty of time to talk about nothing, something Dean found he only did with Castiel.

 **Castiel's POV**

They were in biology, a particularly boring class to both of them. Neither Dean nor Castiel wanted anything having to do with the science of living things, but they had to take the class.

"Now, class," the balding teacher said. "Today we're going to be starting our first project of the year. I realize that it's only the second day of school, but the quicker we get this done, the quicker we can move on to more interesting topics."

Cas rolled his eyes behind the teacher's back, causing Dean to snicker.

"We're going to be doing a project on heredity, specifically in humans. Now, pick a partner and get one computer per pair. Go to the site printed on the board and start the simulation. This is going to count as a grade, so actually put some effort forth.

Cas looked at Dean. He had other friends in this class, Charlie and a nice guy named Ash, but Cas wouldn't have a partner if he chose to go with one of his friends. Dean gave him a small smile before getting up and walking towards where Ash was sitting by the cart of laptops.

Slightly crushed, Cas looked around to see if anyone would be willing to partner up with him. He was about to go ask a lonely looking kid when Dean sat back down in his seat, laptop in hand. Castiel felt a small jolt of relief. He hadn't abandoned Cas to be partnerless.

"So this looks gross," Dean commented when the simulation started, completely oblivious to Cas' previous predicament.

"Ugh, yeah," Cas agreed. The simulation actually did look like it would contain lots of gross visual effects, so the boys hurried through it as fast as they could. By the time they finished with the simulation, there were only twenty minutes of class left. They were the first pair done, and they didn't have any homework, so their teacher let them go early as long as they promised not to disturb any other classes.

Thrilled with their freedom, the two seniors ran as quietly as they could through the school until they were outside in the yard area where gym class was held. Castiel sat down on one of the benches by the soccer field, surprised when Dean sat on the ground between his legs. Castiel pulled out his sketchbook and opened it to the page where he had been drawing the leaf Gabe had given him.

He used Dean's head as a table and added a few details to his drawing that he noticed on the real leaf. They sat in comfortable silence for a while until it was broken by Dean.

"Cas?"

"Hmm?"

"What are you allergic to?"

Cas laughed at the random question, but answered anyway.

"Apples. What about you?"

"I don't have any allergies. What's your favorite color?"

"Green. Yours?"

"Blue."

Both blushed slightly, glad that the other couldn't see. Their favorite colors were the colors of the other boy's eyes, and that wasn't an accident.

"What do you want to be when we're done with school?" Castiel asked.

Dean thought for a moment before answering. "I think I want to be an engineer or an inventor. And it's pretty obvious that you want to be an artist."

"Actually, art is just a hobby. What I really want to do is do something important, like start a homeless shelter or a hospital that's completely free, or something. I want to help people."

"I can totally see you doing that."

They lapsed back into silence. Castiel put his stuff away and leaned back on the bench, unaware that he was running his hands through Dean's hair until the other boy hummed with pleasure.

"Oh, sorry," Castiel said, blushing.

"Hey, don't stop!" Dean said, indignant. "That felt amazing."

So Cas gently trailed his fingers through Dean's hair, content with the world. Or at least, he was until the bell rang, signaling the start of lunch.

 **Sam's POV**

Sam chased Gabriel through the halls, ignoring the upperclassmen that called them immature. He could just barely see the other boy twisting through the crowd with surprising speed. Then, finally, they were outside, and it was a full on sprint. Gabriel was headed towards the soccer field and Sam followed.

They slid to a stop by a bench, surprised to see Castiel and Dean sitting there, Dean on the ground between Cas' legs. Gabriel started laughing, despite the fact that he was panting so hard.

"Dean and Castiel sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" he sang. Dean and Cas both blushed, causing Sam to laugh along with Gabriel, until he remembered that he was mad.

"Sam, why are you all wet?" Dean asked, ignoring Gabriel and moving to sit next to Castiel on the bench. Sam just glared at Gabriel, who was now on the ground from laughing so hard.

"He," Sam said, pointing at Gabriel, "decided that it would be a good idea to rig my locker."

Castiel sighed and looked at his little brother. "Gabriel Novak, what have I told you about pranking people?"

Gabriel fidgeted on the ground, not meeting his brother's eyes. "It's rude and not funny, and to stop," he mumbled.

"Why did you prank Sam?"

Gabriel shrugged. Dean was looking over Sam for injuries and chuckled when he found a piece of yellow latex in his hair. "Water balloon to the face?"

Sam nodded. Dean laughed and high-fived Gabriel, who immediately brightened and stuck his tongue out at Sam. Sam's eyes widened at the challenge and a grin split his face. Before anyone had time to relax, Sam had tackled Gabe and pinned him to the ground, tickling his sides with nimble fingers.

"Ahh! No, stop! I'm going to pee!" Gabriel yelled, tears streaming down his face. The seniors shook their heads at the antics of the freshmen, though Sam could tell that they were both trying not to laugh themselves.

It was only when Gabriel looked like he was going to pass out from lack of air did Sam roll off of him. He flipped onto his stomach and started coughing and taking huge gulps of air.

"I will get you back for this," he promised Sam, though he was smiling when he said it. Sam chuckled and flopped onto the grass next to Gabriel. Today had been great. Gabriel got along really well with his friends and had kept their classes from being too boring. He really liked Gabriel, like a lot. Sam thought of Gabriel as his best friend, which was really weird since he hadn't even known the kid for two whole days yet.

"Oh, Gabriel," Cas' voice cut through his thoughts. " I forgot to tell you, you're going home with Sam and Dean today. Just for a few hours."

Gabriel sat up and eyed Cas suspiciously. "Why?' he asked.

His brother rolled his eyes and sighed exasperatedly. "Stop being so paranoid. I just have a doctors appointment, and I didn't want you to be home by yourself. You remember what happened last time?"

Gabriel nodded, his face paling a little. Sam and Dean were intrigued now.

"What happened last time?" Dean asked. Castiel glanced down at Gabriel.

"He tried to cook and the fire department had to get involved."

Sam laughed and Gabriel chuckled nervously. "You aren't still mad about that are you?"

"No, but I wouldn't like a repeat."

"Fair enough," Gabriel conceded. The four of them stayed on the empty soccer field for lunch, enjoying each other's company. Gabriel learned about the movie their brothers were going to go see, and teased them mercilessly. Poor Dean and Cas turned redder than tomatoes, and Sam tried to defend them , but it was hard when he was trying to hold back a smile.

The bell rang all too soon, and the four parted ways again, agreeing to meet at the Impala after school was over. Sam practically had to drag Gabriel to history class, the boy was fighting so hard to get away. Yesterday was only the first day, but the teacher had shown just how strict and mean she was. Sam may have thought it funny that Gabriel knew jack about history, but she hadn't and had given him tons of extra homework because of it.

"Sam, don't make me go back there!" Gabriel cried, twisting and thrashing to get away. Sam just held onto his shirt tighter and pulled him along, ignoring the stares of everybody in the hallway. "She's evil, she hates me! Uuugh, I don't wanna go! She's a meanie!"

Sam rolled his eyes. "Stop being such a baby, Gabe." And that's how they entered the classroom, making the teacher narrow her eyes and the other kids to snicker. Sam glared at any who even dared to crack a smile. No one laughed at his best friend except him.

 **Gabriel's POV**

Gabriel and Sam walked towards the parking lot, where Dean and Castiel would be waiting at the Impala. They were both groaning at the amount of homework they had, even though Sam usually didn't care about the amount of work teachers gave out.

As they approached the Impala, they saw Dean and Castiel leaning against the hood, talking. Gabriel thought that his brother looked happy, truly happy, something he hadn't seen very often since their dad disappeared.

"Ready to go?" Dean asked when they arrived. The boys nodded and climbed into the car. Sam chose to sit in the back with Gabriel, for which he was glad. Castiel leaned in through the open window.

"Be careful, okay? Don't try to cook, no climbing trees, and no more wandering off," he said. Gabriel rolled his eyes.

"You say that like I'm known for getting in trouble." That earned a glare from Cas and a snort from the Winchesters. "It'll be fine, Cas. I'm always careful."

They pulled away from the school and Castiel's retreating figure. Sam turned to Gabriel.

"Why is he so protective?"

Gabe rolled his eyes again. "It's because I'm the baby of the family. Castiel's the second youngest, but all of my other brothers are always busy, so he practically raised me."

Sam nodded. "I know what that's like." He and Dean shared a look that Gabriel didn't even try to understand. Stuff between brothers was usually not for the whole world to see. The drive home was short, full of Gabriel singing along to whatever song Dean played. They came up with a game, Dean switching the songs at random times and seeing how long it took Gabe to adjust and start singing again.

They pulled into the driveway, the house being a lot bigger than Gabriel had imagined. From what Sam had told him, it was just the two of them, so he had expected an apartment or a townhouse, or something.

When they got inside, he put his backpack down next to Sam's and followed him into the kitchen.

"What do you want to do?" Sam asked, peering into the fridge thoughtfully. Gabriel reached around him and pulled out a coke, completely comfortable with raiding someone else's fridge.

"I don't know," he replied to Sam's question. "It's your house."

"Yeah, but you're the guest." Gabriel just shrugged and the two boys stared at each other, hoping for the other to give a suggestion. Luckily, they didn't have to as Dean chose that moment to announce that he was going to get some food and ask if they wanted to come with.

So Gabriel once again found himself in the backseat of the Impala. They stopped at a diner owned by a nice lady named Ellen and got some food to go. Then, they drove to a park much like the one Gabriel liked to visit. Only this park was much bigger and had much taller trees. Gabriel stared at the branches with wide eyes while he ate, a small smirk ever-present on his face.

Sam and Dean looked curious, but didn't ask. They got the answer to their unspoken question when Gabriel, still chewing the last of his milkshake covered fries, circled a tree and then began to climb. Gabriel could hear them calling his name, but he didn't look down. He climbed as high as he dared to go, then sat on the branch, swinging his legs.

"Hi!" he called down to the Winchesters. Even though he must have been some thirty feet in the air, he could clearly see the fear in their faces.

"Gabriel! Come down!" they called. He just laughed and slid backwards on the branch so that he was hanging upside down by his knees. Dean pulled out his phone and punched in a number. Crap, was he calling the fire department? Or worse, Castiel?

Gabriel quickly righted himself on the branch and started climbing down. He had to jump a few times, and by the time he reached the ground he had several small cuts on his arms and hands.

"God, Gabriel!" Sam exclaimed, pulling Gabe into a hug. "Don't freaking do that! You could have died!"

"It's no big deal, Sammy," Gabriel said. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Dean give him a strange look, but ignored it. "I've been climbing trees since I could walk."

"That's why Cas told you not to, isn't it?" Dean asked. Gabriel gave him a sheepish smile and a shrug.

"He doesn't like it when I go too high up, but usually I don't."

He could tell that Dean wanted to say more, but at that moment Gabriel caught sight of someone sitting at the picnic table next to theirs. It was the same man from the park in his neighborhood, and he looked mad. No, not mad, furious. He was glaring daggers at Gabe through narrow eyes. Gabriel felt the blood drain from his face.

Dean must have seen because he turned to look at the man, but he had already gotten up and was walking away.

"Are you okay?" Dean asked. Sam looked worriedly at his friend.

"I'm fine," Gabriel lied. He was now pretty sure that he was being followed. After all, there were plenty of parks closer to where Gabe had last seen the man, but he had chosen to come to the same one Gabriel had at the exact same time. It could have been a coincidence, but Gabe has never believed in those. "Let's just go, please."

Sam and Dean looked at him questioningly, but he just shook his head and gathered his trash. He kept looking behind him on the whole way back to the Winchesters' house, but had calmed down by the time they reached their destination.

It was probably nothing, he told himself. Just a coincidence, much as he hated to think like that. He'd ask Michael about it, but he was most likely overreacting. Right?


	4. Chapter 4

**Dean's POV**

By the time they made it back to the house, Gabriel seemed to have forgotten whatever was bothering him. He and Sam were in the backseat, playing some game that they had made up.

"Sammy, that's cheating!" Gabriel said, and Dean furrowed his brow. Sam hated it when anyone, even Dean, called him Sammy, so why was he letting Gabriel? Shaking his head, he pulled into the driveway and the three of them trooped back inside.

Dean noticed that Sam and Gabriel were shivering a little and checked the thermostat on the wall. Who had set it at 50? He turned the temperature up and got some blankets for the boys while the heat kicked in.

"So, Gabe," Dean started when they were all on the couch watching a movie.

"Hmm?" Came the reply.

"What had you so freaked out back at the park?" He didn't know why he brought it up, but the fourteen-year-old had looked so scared. He supposed it was the brotherly instinct in him reacting to his fear.

"It was nothing, I just thought I saw someone."

Dean didn't really believe him, but he wasn't going to pry. The end credits started rolling across the screen and Dean turned the T.V. off.

"What do you guys want to do?" he asked. Sam and Gabriel just shrugged, and Dean sighed. They ended up playing a card game that Gabriel taught them, something called Slap Jack, until Cars came hours later.

The doorbell rang, making the three of them jump. Sam rose and disappeared around the corner. They heard the door open and some muffled conversation, then Sam and Castiel walked into the room.

Castiel looked exhausted but Dean could've sworn that his blue eyes lit up a little when they landed on Dean. Without saying a word, he sat on the floor next to Dean, laid his head on Dean's shoulder and fell asleep. Sam and Dean stared at him, bewildered, while Gabriel just shook his head sadly.

"Poor Cas," he said. Dean's head rose sharply.

"Is he okay? I mean he doesn't have like...cancer or anything?" Dean felt panic stir in his chest at the thought but pushed it down.

"What? No. It's just that the doctor we go to is a family friend and after every appointment she makes us stay and listen to her stories and eat cookies and stuff. It's fun, but tiring. She must have been extra excited today."

Dean looked at Castiel and noticed that he would get a crick in his neck for sleeping in that position for too long. So he carefully lifted his friend and deposited him onto the sofa. Gabriel suddenly let out a groan and he ran to the front door. They heard it open and close and Gabriel came back in, looking a bit irritated.

"I don't believe this," he muttered.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked.

"Michael ditched us," he huffed. "That butt. Sorry, guys, looks like you're stuck with us for a few more hours."

Dean looked at Cas asleep on the couch (he was adorable when he was asleep, but Dean wouldn't admit that out loud) and found that he didn't mind much.

They had to wake Cas after about an hour so that he would be able to get to sleep that night and the four of them spent the rest of the evening making a mess in the kitchen, which they somehow turned into homemade pizza. It was actually pretty good, and cleaning up all the flour and dirty dishes was, too.

But Michael still didn't show. The Novak brothers were clearly trying to stay up and wait for their brother, but it was a losing battle. Sam and Gabriel had fallen asleep on the floor, and Castiel had joined them around one in the morning. Dean stayed up, even though he knew he would regret it when he had to get up for school tomorrow.

He was pissed at this Michael person. I mean, who promises to pick up their brothers in a few hours, and then never shows up? Dean wasn't angry about the fact that the Novaks were sleeping over (because Dean would insist that it was too late to be driving around with two exhausted teens), no, he was pissed because what kind of irresponsible brother leaves his younger brothers to sleep on the floor in jeans that had to be extremely uncomfortable?

After silently fuming for another hour, there was a soft knock. Dean huffily went to the door and checked who it was before opening it to reveal a man he assumed to be Michael.

"Hi," Michael said. "So sorry about this, but there's something going on at home, and I can't risk letting Cas and Gabe come back, so I was wondering if they could stay here for the night? I brought them some stuff."

Dean looked down and noticed two backpacks, bulging with what Dean assumed to be clothes.

"Of course they can stay," Dean replied. He wanted to still be mad, but Michael looked so frazzled and he was just trying to protect his little brothers, and Dean felt his anger melt away. He took the backpacks and went back to the living room to nudge awake the three sleeping figures on the floor.

"Hey," he whispered, loudly. "Hey guys, wake up." Slowly, the three of opened their eyes and looked around groggily. "Michael was here, and he left you guys some pajamas and stuff." Castiel and Gabriel perked up at that and they took the bags. Dean directed them to a bathroom and two spare bedrooms, then half carried and half dragged Sam upstairs to his own room.

Sam was so tired that he wasn't even embarrassed about changing into pajamas in front of his brother, and he was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Dean smiled fondly and left to check on his two guests. Gabriel was buried so far under the covers that Dean wouldn't have even known he was there had he not been breathing. Chuckling softly, he went down the hall to Cas' room.

The older Novak was half under his covers, and Dean could see a baggy t-shirt and sweatpants. He looked to be deeply asleep, so Dean went to his own room. He changed into pajamas and crawled into bed. He was asleep as soon as his eyes closed.

 **Castiel's POV**

Castiel was groggy when he woke up the next morning. He panicked a little when he didn't recognise the room he was in, but then he remembered what had happened last night. He looked around for his phone, which was beeping loudly. He turned off the alarm and slipped out of bed.

The backpack that Michael left him last night was sitting on the foot of the bed, and Cas grabbed it and headed to the bathroom. He showered and changed into the clothes his brother had left him, then went to wake up Gabriel.

He found his little brother asleep in his room, buried under mountains of blankets. Smiling evilly, Cas grabbed the end of the blanket and pulled, effectively knocking Gabriel onto the floor and waking him up.

"Hey!" he shouted, untangling himself from the mess of blankets on the floor. "Was that really necessary?"

"Absolutely," Cas said. He laughed at the glare his brother shot him, and left him to get ready for school. At the top of the stairs, he smelled breakfast and his stomach growled, reminding him of how hungry he was. He walked downstairs and into the kitchen, where he found Sam sitting at the table reading a book and Dean at the stove cooking.

"Morning," he said. Dean turned and smiled at him.

"Morning. Hungry?"

"Starving." Dean gave him a plate loaded with pancakes, eggs, bacon, and fruit. Cas' mouth started watering and he quickly dug in. Gabriel still wasn't downstairs when the three of them had finished eating, and Sam turned to Cas worriedly.

"What's Gabe doing?" he asked. Castiel just shrugged.

"I have no idea, but it always takes him this long to get ready in the mornings."

"No, it doesn't," said an indignant voice behind them, and they turned to see Gabriel walking into the kitchen.

"Yes, it does," Cas countered.

"Yeah, it does," he mumbled, making Sam laugh. Dean fixed him a plate and he wolfed it down faster than Castiel had. As soon as he had finished the last bite, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pack of Skittles, which he began eating with a content smile on his face.

"Uh, Gabe, it's pretty early to be eating sugar, don't you think?" Dean asked.

"Don't waste your breath," Castiel told him. "He never listens when it comes to sugar."

Gabriel stuck out his now rainbow colored tongue and popped another handful of Skittles into his mouth. Gabriel checked the time on his phone and choked on his Skittles. Cas pounded his back while he coughed, tears streaming down his face.

"We have ten minutes to get to class," he rasped. Sam, Dean, and Cas looked at each other with wide eyes. They burst into motion, grabbing backpacks and putting on shoes before racing out to the Impala. They jumped in and Dean flew out of the driveway, nearly running into a mailbox in his hurry.

They made it on time, thanks to Dean going ten over the speed limit, and ran to class. Cas and Dean were panting by the time they reached their homeroom class. The teacher frowned at them, but couldn't do anything as they were on time. Snickering breathlessly, they made their way to their usual seats in the back.

The teacher shot them a glare, then went back to doing whatever she was doing.

"If she gets any shorter, we'll have to call her Grumpy," Cas whispered, making Dean crack up next to him. Cas felt his heart soar. He loved the sound of Dean's laugh, and loved even more being the cause of that laughter.

After Dean's laughing fit, he leaned in close to Cas.

"Twenty bucks says Sam and Gabriel will be mad about homework again after school," he whispered.

"You're on," Cas hissed back.

 **Sam's POV**

"This is so boring," Gabriel groaned, making Sam narrow his eyes. He and Gabriel were in the library with their history class, researching for a geography project they were doing. They were both full from lunch, though Gabe hadn't eaten anything except cupcakes, and it was making them sleepy.

"Dude," Sam growled. "We have to get this project done, so could you actually help?"

"Fine, touchy," Gabe sniffed. He pulled a book towards him and opened it, pencil in hand. Satisfied, Sam turned back to his own book. He knew Gabriel hated history, but the project wasn't that hard and Sam just wanted to get it done.

The bell rang, signaling the end of class, and Sam pushed his notes into his bag.

"Hold on a minute, class," the teacher said. "I need to tell you guys your homework. So, for this project, I decided that you guys could do whatever you wanted, any type of presentation you can think of. The information needs to be accurate and detailed, but other than that you have no boundaries. Presentations will be on Monday, so be prepared."

The students filed out of the library slowly, talking to their partners about the type of presentation they wanted to do.

"So, Gabe," Sam said, turning to Gabriel, "any ideas?"

Gabriel had a thoughtful look on his face, and he nodded.

"One. And I think it's a pretty good one, too."

"Care to tell me?"

"Hold on, I need to work out a few kinks first."

"Alright, I guess. See you after class."

"Bye, Sam."

They parted ways, headed to their separate classes. Sam walked to the gym, thinking about the homework he had to do today. It was a lot, considering it was only the third day of school. Oh, well. Sam was used to having lot of work to do after school.

()()()

Sam and Gabriel walked towards the Impala. Gabriel was thinking, and every so often he'd scribble something down in his notebook. He still hadn't told Sam about his idea, but he had said that it might not work and they needed to have backup plans, so Sam was thinking of the various ways they could make the geography of Europe in the Dark Ages interesting.

"Hey, guys," Dean said when they reached the car. He and Cas were looking at them curiously, but Gabe didn't seem to notice as he was too busy staring at whatever he had written. "So how was school?"

"It was fine," Sam answered, looking at Dean suspiciously. He could tell Dean was using that voice he used when he was trying to act casual, but it never worked on Sam.

"Any homework?" he asked, and Cas elbowed him in the side, but he looked like he wanted to know as much as Dean did.

"A little, not a big deal."

"Yes!" Cas cried, startling Sam and Gabriel. "I win! I believe you owe me."

Dean pouted and took out twenty dollars from his wallet and pushed it at Cas, but he wouldn't take it.

"How about you just buy my ticket and popcorn for the movie tomorrow?" he asked, and Dean agreed. That got Gabe's attention. He looked up with a wicked grin on his face.

"I knew it was a date!" he said, causing Cas and Dean to blush. "It's a date, and you can't deny it." He laughed at the expressions on their faces, Dean looking mortified and Cas looking murderous. Suddenly he stopped and stared, eyes wide and face pale.

Sam, Dean, and Castiel followed his gaze to a guy. Sam thought he looked like the same guy from the park yesterday, but he couldn't be sure as he was walking away already. Whoever he was, he scared Gabriel pretty bad. He shoved his stuff in his backpack and grabbed Cas' arm.

"Cas, we have to go, now," he said. He started pulling Castiel away from the school, ignoring his protests. "Bye, Sam! I'll text you about the project!" Sam watched Gabe and Cas go, confused. Dean looked the same when he turned to Sam.

"What was that all about?" he asked as they got into the Impala.

"I have no idea," Sam replied.

 **Gabriel's POV**

Gabriel had to restrain himself from running back to the house. He really needed to talk to Michael. He had seen the same guy from the park, and he was sure he was being stalked. But why?

"Gabe, what's wrong?" Cas asked. He was walking as fast as Gabriel was, even though he didn't know why.

"I don't know," Gabriel replied. "I need to talk to Michael."

Luckily, the house wasn't that far from the school and they made it home in less than ten minutes. Gabriel ran inside and into Michael's office, not even bothering to put his backpack down.

"Whoa, Gabe, are you alright?" Michael asked, looking away from his laptop.

"No! I'm most definitely not alright!" He was pacing around the office, running his hands through his hair. Michael pulled him down into a chair and sat down opposite him.

"What happened?"

"Michael, I think...I think I'm being stalked."

Michael paled, not the reaction Gabriel was expecting.

"What did the guy look like?" he asked.

"Um, he had brown hair and was kinda short. Oh, and he had a devil tattoo on his arm."

Michael's breathing hitched and he shot up from his seat. He grabbed his phone and called someone.

"Hi, yeah, listen. I know who it is." Gabriel perked up. "It's Crowley, and he's after Gabe. No, he's fine. Yeah. Yeah, okay. Thank's Raph. Bye."

"Was that Raphael?" Gabriel asked. "What does he have to do with it? And who's Crowley? And why's he after me?"

"Yeah." Cas said, coming and sitting down next to Gabriel. He glared up at Michael. "That's what I'd like to know."

Michael ran his hand through his hair and sighed, looking back and forth between his little brothers.

"Alright, listen. There's something going on, but I need Raph and Luci to help me explain, okay? They'll be here tomorrow and I swear I'll explain everything then. But until they arrive, you two aren't allowed to leave the house."

Cas jaw dropped in outrage.

"That's not fair!" Gabriel cried. "Cas has a date tomorrow!"

Cas started spluttering and Michael turned to him interestedly. "You never mentioned a date," he said.

"That's because it's not a date," Cas replied, glaring at Gabriel. "I'm just going to see a movie with Dean."

"That's what a date _is,_ Cas," Gabriel said.

"Whatever," Cas huffed. "Can I go, Michael? Please? I won't be alone, and whatever the hell is going on has to do with Gabriel, not me."

"It has to do with all of us," Michael said. "But I guess you can go, as long as Dean drops you home afterwards."

Gabriel snickered. It was definitely a date. Cas glared at him again and stalked out of the office, leaving Gabriel and Michael alone. Once Cas was gone, Gabriel let the mask drop. He crawled into Michael's lap, ignoring the fact that he was almost too big to fit. Michael's arms wrapped around Gabe and held him close.

"Mike, I'm scared," he whispered. "Why is there someone after me?"

Michael sighed, and Gabriel could feel the vibrations traveling through his chest as he spoke.

"It's a long story, Gabe. But it'll be okay. I won't let anything happen to you."

"He was at the park that night when I came home really late," Gabe admitted. "And I saw him yesterday when I was with the Winchesters, and he was at my school today." Michael stiffened.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"I thought it was just a coincidence at first."

"Alright, well it's okay now. You'll be fine." And Gabriel believed him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Dean's POV**

"Do you think Gabriel's okay?" Sam asked for the third time since they got home. Dean was glad that Sam and Gabe were this close, but the question was getting annoying.

"I'm sure he's fine, Cas would let us know if he wasn't," Dean said. He was trying to do his homework so that he didn't have to do it on the weekend, but it was hard when Sam kept bugging him. "Don't you have some homework to do?"

"I did it all, except the history project, but I need Gabriel's help with that."

"Have you texted him?"

"...No."

"So you expect me to know if he's alright or not, and you haven't even texted him?"

Sam chuckled nervously and backed out of Dean's room. Dean heard thundering footsteps go downstairs, then it was quiet finally. Dean put his headphones back in and tried to concentrate on his math worksheet.

It was hours later when he stretched and put his stuff away, finished with all the work he had been given. He got that it was senior year, but he thought all the homework was a little overkill.

"Hey, Dean," Sam called from the living room.

"Yeah?" Dean called back, heading downstairs.

"Gabe just texted me and asked us to come over tomorrow around three. He said it's important."

"Alright, it's not like we had any plans anyway."

Sam's phone buzzed distracting him for a moment. He looked down and back up at Dean.

"Can we get Chinese for dinner?"

"Sure, Sammy."

Sam grinned and went to his room to answer his phone. Dean checked the time. It was already six. He grabbed his phone and ordered something for dinner from the Chinese restaurant they usually went to, Sam's favorite dish having been memorized years ago. Once that was done, he texted Castiel.

 **Dean: Hey Cas. Everything alright?**

It was a little while before Castiel responded.

 **Castiel: Hi Dean. Yeah everything's fine, I guess.**

 **Castiel: Actually, ignore that. Things are not fine.**

 **Dean: What's wrong?**

 **Castiel: Gabe's being stalked and my brothers are coming over to help Michael explain some huge secret that explains why.**

 **Dean: Do you guys know who's stalking him?**

 **Castiel: Michael does.**

 **Dean: Go to the police.**

 **Castiel: That's what I told him, but he said they already know. It's confusing, but Michael said he'd explain it tomorrow and that he wants you and Sam to be there too.**

 **Castiel: You are coming, right?**

 **Dean: Of course, this sounds serious.**

 **Castiel: Good, cuz this whole thing is getting really weird. Like, my brothers are in college, and they never come visit for anything.**

 **Dean: I'm sure it'll be fine.**

 **Castiel: Yeah, I know.**

 **Castiel: I have to go, Dean. I'll see you tomorrow**

 **Dean: Bye, Cas.**

Dean put his phone away and frowned. Gabriel was being stalked. Sam obviously didn't know otherwise he'd be freaking out. Well, he was going to find out eventually so Dean might as well tell him now so he didn't interrupt anything tomorrow.

"Hey, Sam?" he called up the stairs.

"Yeah?" came the muffled reply.

"Could you come down here a minute?"

Sam walked downstairs, hand over the phone and an annoyed look on his face.

"What is it, Dean? I was talking to someone."

"It's about Gabriel." Dean hesitated. "He's being stalked."

Sam looked at Dean with disbelief written on his features before he put the phone back up to his ear.

"Hey, I'll call you back."

 **Castiel's POV**

It was Saturday, the day his brothers came, the day he and Gabe got some answers, the day he would finally see that movie with Dean. Needless to say, he was a little on edge. He stayed up in his room most of the day, listening to music and doodling in his sketchpad.

He wanted to comfort Gabriel, but he knew his brother would never openly admit to needing help. At least, not to Cas. So he was content to let Michael handle their brother, which he undoubtedly was doing, while he waited for Lucifer and Raphael to arrive.

It had been four years since he had last seen Lucifer, and almost two years since he had last seen Raphael. He had really missed them, and was overjoyed that he would finally be seeing them again after all this time.

But he was also extremely apprehensive. I mean, who wouldn't be? They were only coming to help Michael explain why Gabriel was being stalked, but Cas couldn't think of a reason why there would be anything to explain in the first place.

The doorbell rang, pulling him out of his thoughts. It was too early for Sam and Dean to arrive, which meant that it was his brothers. Castiel was the first to reach the door. Slightly nervous, he opened it to reveal both of his brothers standing there. Wide grins split all of their faces when they saw each other.

"Castiel!" Raph and Luci said in unison. Abandoning their stuff on the front steps, they both hugged their little brother, nearly crushing him with how tight their arms were. He could hear Gabe and Mike behind him, and was mercifully released from their hug. But he didn't mind. It just told him that they had missed Cas as much as Cas had missed them.

They moved behind him to greet Michael and Gabriel, so Cas grabbed their suitcases and lugged them into the house. He rolled them to the foot of the stairs and went to join his brothers in the kitchen. Michael and Raphael were sitting at the table, talking about college and classes and that sort of thing. Lucifer and Gabriel were sitting on bar stools, talking about all the parties he'd been to since college started. They were all avoiding the elephant in the room.

"So, Michael," Gabriel started after a pointed look from Castiel. "Care to tell the class why I'm being stalked?"

"I will," Michael promised. "I just want to wait for your friends to get here first so that I can tell them, too. It'll be good for you guys to have people who know." Gabriel nodded and started spinning around in his bar stool. Luci and Raph went up to their guest rooms and Michael went back to his office, leaving Castiel and Gabriel to entertain themselves.

"So what do you want to do?" Cas asked. Gabriel shrugged and continued to spin. "Could you stop, you're making me dizzy." Gabriel just spun faster. Cas sighed and plopped down on the couch.

"Want to watch a movie?" Gabe asked, going to the large cabinet that housed their movie collection. He selected a DVD and slid it into the blu-ray player. He sat down next to Cas and snuggled into his side. Cas smiled and put an arm around his little brother.

Cas didn't know when he fell asleep, only that he was watching the movie one minute and being woken up by Gabriel the next.

"Cas, they're here," he said, gently shaking Cas' shoulder. Castiel rubbed his eyes and yawned, letting Gabriel answer the door. He still had his eyes closed when Sam and Dean entered the living room, and he swung his head around to where the sound of footsteps had been coming from.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," Dean snorted, somehow knowing that Cas had just woken up. Castiel just hummed in reply and opened his eyes. Dean came and sat down next to him on the couch, watching Gabe pull Sam up the stairs to his room. "How are you holding up?"

"What do you mean?" Cas asked.

"I mean, if my brother was being stalked, I'd be freaking out right now."

Castiel shrugged. "I'm fine, I guess. He's not hurt and Michael says the cops know, so it's not like there's anything we can do. Plus, freaking out wouldn't help anything."

"That's true. But you seem a little indifferent, is all I'm saying."

Cas turned to look at him and narrowed his eyes a little. "Don't imply that I'm not worried. Just because I'm not freaking out on the outside doesn't mean I'm not freaking out on the inside. He's my little brother."

Dean held up his hands in a placating manner. "I wasn't implying anything. Just saying that you and I react to things very differently. Anyway, where are your brothers, I want to get this freak show on the road."

"Nicely put," Michael said from behind them, coming into the living room with Lucifer and Raphael. "I know I owe you guys an explanation, so let's get this thing done."

Finally.

 **Sam's POV**

Sam sat on Gabe's bed, watching as his friend paced around the room. He was terrified, Sam could tell.

"I could've died," he said. "I was alone with the guy at a park after dark. He could've killed me! He still could. I mean, what are you even supposed to do when you're being stalked? What are the cops doing? Michael says they know, but I was still followed around by some creepy-ass old dude."

Sam let him rant for a few more minutes before he decided it was time to intervene. He got off the bed and grabbed Gabe's arm, pulling him down to the floor. He wrapped his arms around his friend and didn't let go.

"I'm sure it'll be fine, Gabe," he said. "Michael knows who it is and the police know what's going on. You'll be okay, okay? Me, Dean and your brothers won't let anything happen to you."

Gabriel gave Sam a grateful smile and leaned his head on Sam's shoulder. They stayed like that until a knock at the door made them pull apart. Gabe opened the door, revealing one of his brothers, Lucifer, Sam thinks.

"Come on, you two," he said. "We have something to tell you."

Sam and Gabe followed him to the living room, where they sat on the couch next to Dean and Cas and Lucifer joined Michael and Raphael across from them. Michael took a huge breath and looked at Cas.

"So this whole thing," he began, "started a long time ago, before Mom died. You know how Dad was a cop back then?" Cas and Gabe nodded. "Well, he found out that Mom had been murdered." Castiel's eyes went wide and Gabe paled. Sam and Dean stared at each other. Michael took a breath and continued, slowly. "When Dad was in high school, he was part of a drug cartel. But he quit, got married, and became a cop. He got the leader of the gang arrested, and of course, none of them were happy about that. So they vowed revenge." Michael stopped and gave a pleading look to Lucifer, who patted his brother's hand and turned to the shocked teens.

"Their leader was in jail and the cartel was broken up, but they still remained loyal to him. So he had one of his men pose as a waiter when Mom and Dad went on a date one night. He spiked her food, a lethal overdose of cocaine. You were only a few months old then," he added, looking at Gabriel. "By the time Dad found out, Mom was dead. So he went a little crazy trying to get back at them, going around and arresting all of their major operatives. All that was left were a few little league dealers. But they were furious when they found out what had happened.

"They shot Dad. He had gone out to the store for some stupid thing, and he never came home. When they found his body, it didn't take long for his friends in the force to connect the dots. But they couldn't arrest the killers because they didn't have proof." Lucifer's voice broke and Raphael took over the story.

"We didn't want to create a huge scandal, so the cops decided to declare him missing. We had a small, private funeral and no one ever found out. Of course, the cops knew that the ex-leader of the cartel was still in contact with all of his people, so they...interrogated him. He told the cops that he would come after us next, to 'complete his revenge by destroying Dad's bloodline' or something.

"For the first year we all had a bodyguard. You and Cas' guards were undercover so as not to worry you. After a time, nothing seemed to be happening, so the guards weren't necessary anymore, but it seems that they were just biding their time."

There was silence from the four teens as they processed what had been said. Sam felt a little sick, Dean looked pale, Cas' eyes were a little watery and Gabe was visibly shaking. Sam couldn't even imagine what it must feel like to learn all of this about your own family, so all he could do was watch Cas hug Gabe.

"I get why you didn't tell us," Cas said after a while. Gabriel nodded and Sam saw the three older Novaks visibly relax, as if they were expecting their brothers to be mad. Lucifer came and sat by Gabriel, wrapping his arm around both of his little brothers and holding them close. Sam felt like he was intruding on a private moment. Dean felt the same, if his face was any indicator.

Several tense moments passed and Michael finally turned to Sam and Dean.

"We didn't tell you this just for the sake of knowing," he said. "We need you to be prepared for the danger you might be in if you continue to be friends with Cas and Gabe." The two Novaks stiffened, as if they hadn't even considered the possibility, and turned pleading eyes on the Winchesters.

"We're used to this kind of thing," Sam said, tearing his gaze away from Gabe's glassy gold eyes. "It's going to take more than assassins to scare us off." All five Novaks gave them grateful looks and they sat for a few more seconds before Michael stood up.

"We have to go alert the police of what's going on," Michael said, motioning for Lucifer and Raphael to follow him.

"I thought you said the cops already know," Cas said accusingly.

"I didn't exactly lie," he said defensively. "Dad's old cop friends know, the police in Lawrence don't. We have to tell them before something happens."

He gave one last smile to the four of them before grabbing his keys and heading out the door, Lucifer following him. Raphael crouched down in front of Cas and Gabe.

"You two be careful, okay?" he said. "Right now it looks like Gabe's their target, but they won't waste an opportunity to get to you, too, Cas. Don't do anything stupid, and don't leave the house before we get back." He nodded to Sam and Dean before he, too, left, and the WInchesters waited for the sound of the engine of Michael's car to disappear before rushing over to their friends.

"Are you guys okay?" Dean asked, hugging Castiel. Sam held onto Gabe and felt his heart twist with pity when he saw the tears dripping down his face.

"I never knew my mom," he whispered. "And now I find out she was murdered. Am I supposed to be okay?"

Sam ignored the sarcastic comment and hugged him tighter, feeling relief when Gabe hugged him back. The four of them stayed that way for a while, all of them thinking about how messed up the whole situation was.

 **Gabriel's POV**

Gabriel felt the tears eventually stop, though he didn't let go of Sam. He needed comfort right now, and Castiel didn't look like he'd be letting go of Dean anytime soon. A wave of despair washed over him and he held back a moan.

It wasn't fair! Their dad had done something good and their parents had died because of it. Gabe had never known his mother and could barely remember his father. Why did this have to happen?

Gabriel was aware of Dean and Cars pulling apart, then low murmurs from the two seniors. Cas said something that sounded like Gabe's name, but he was having trouble hearing. He looked up and found three pairs of eyes looking at him worriedly. He couldn't really hear what they were saying, but he could read their lips.

'Are you okay?' was being repeated again and again by the three of them, and Gabriel shook his head. He wasn't okay, obviously. He had just found out that his parents had been murdered, he wasn't surprised that he was going into shock.

Wait, going into shock? That wasn't good. He didn't feel like a trip to the hospital, so he did his best to focus and bring himself back to reality. He blinked his eyes, clearing them and looking around. Cas was carrying him upstairs, to his room. He buried his face into his brother's chest and felt more tears well up in his eyes.

Castiel kicked open the door of his room and dropped him onto his bed before closing the door and joining him. The brothers clung to each other, tears slowly dripping down both of their faces. Gabriel let out a huge shuddering breath and Cas just hugged him harder.

It was a lot to take in, and Gabriel felt that they deserved at least a few minutes to break down. And that's all he allowed himself, a few minutes. He wiped his tears and thought happy thoughts, trying to prevent new ones from falling. Cas followed his example and they went to their separate bathrooms to wash their faces.

They felt a little better when they went back downstairs. Sam and Dean were still sitting on the couch, Sam leaning with his head on Dean's chest. Both of them had their eyes closed, but they opened when they heard Cas and Gabe come in.

Both Winchesters immediately shot up and came over to the Novaks, leading them to the couch where they had been sitting before. They sat in comfortable silence, broken only by the occasional sniffle from Gabriel.

They stayed like that for hours, talking about nothing and taking comfort in the presence of their friends. Afternoon turned to evening, which melted away into night and Mike, Raph, and Luci were still not home. Gabriel checked the clock. It was already nine, and he was getting worried.

He took a small sip of the hot chocolate Dean had made, glad for its warmth and sweetness. He glanced at Cas. His brother was leaning against Dean, drinking his own cocoa and listening to Dean talk about some band that he loved.

Gabriel smirked to himself. They couldn't see it, but it was painfully obvious that they were pretty much dating already, even though their first date wouldn't be for a few more hours. The smirk fell from his face when he looked down. Sam was leaning on him the exact same way Cas was lying on Dean. Did that mean that Sam and Gabe were sort of dating, too? Oh, well. Gabe took another sip of his drink.

Loud knocking interrupted his thoughts and he pulled himself out from under Sam. He went to the door and was about to open it when he remembered that there were assassins trying to kill him.

 _What has my life become?_ he wondered as he peered out of a window to check who was at the door. Relief washed through him when he saw his older brothers. and he unlocked and opened the door. The three of them looked exhausted when they walked in, and after a quick hug each for Gabriel and a goodnight to Cas, Sam and Dean, they went up to their rooms and shut the doors.

Dean and Sam left after they finished their hot chocolate, and Gabriel and Castiel were left wondering what to do. Gabe was about to suggest a movie when Cas ambled off to his room, mumbling about being tired despite it not even being ten yet.

Gabe was pretty sure that he just wanted to go to his room and wallow in sadness. After all, he actually remembered their mother and father. Gabriel had never met his mom, and his memories of his dad were hazy at best. So he wasn't as sad as the rest of his family.

After another minute of staring aimlessly at the black T.V. screen, he too went up to his room.


	6. Chapter 6

**Dean's POV**

Dean's alarm went off at 11 o'clock on the dot. He made his way to the bathroom in the dark, not wanting to wake Sam. As quietly as he could, he showered and changed, then grabbed his wallet, keys, and phone. He scribbled down a note and left it on Sam's door, planning to be back in a few hours but not wanting Sam to freak out if he woke up before.

He arrived at the Novak household around 11:30. He put the Impala into park and texted Cas.

 **Dean: Hey, Cas. I'm outside**

 **Castiel: I'll be out in five minutes.**

Dean waited in the car, and sure enough, Cas came out a few minutes later.

"Sorry that took so long," he said. "I forgot to tell Michael that the movie was at midnight, so it took a little extra convincing for him to let me go."

"No problem," Dean replied. He wanted to ask how Castiel was doing after finding out the truth about his parents, but his friend hadn't brought up the touchy subject, so he wouldn't either.

The movie theatre was surprisingly full when they got there. It had stayed open late tonight just to air the premiere of the movie they were going to see, a horror flick called Devil's Trap. The lines were long, but it was worth it when they finally found seats and sat down.

"So what's this movie about, anyway?" Dean asked, munching on his popcorn.

"Demonic possession," answered Cas. He popped some pretzel bites into his mouth before grabbing a handful of Dean's popcorn. With anyone else, Dean would have been upset, but he found Castiel's lack of personal space oddly endearing. He couldn't help but smile when Cas leaned on him and continued to eat his snacks.

Like all horror movies nowadays, there was no real story behind the scares and creepiness. A family moved into a new house, got possessed by demons, did crazy Exorcist-type shit, and killed everybody in the town. Lots of people in the theatre were actually freaked out by it, screaming and jumping with fright every time there was a loud noise or something randomly popped up onto the screen.

At the end of the movie, Dean looked down and found Cas finishing off the last of the popcorn. The lights in the theatre came on and people started to leave, talking excitedly about the movie. Dean and Cas exited the building and climbed into the Impala. They didn't say anything for a while, until Cas broke the silence.

"That was the worst movie I have ever seen," he said.

"I know, right?" Dean exclaimed. "It was terrible, and it wasn't even scary!"

"What a waste of money. But I'm glad we got to spend some time together, regardless of how bad the movie was."

Dean smiled at him and Cas smiled back. They reached the Novak house soon after that, and found Michael waiting in the doorway. Cas rolled his eyes and stepped out of the car. Before he went inside, he looked at Dean through the window, and tapped it so Dean would roll it down.

"Thanks for the movie and the ride," he said.

"No problem," Dean replied. "I'll see you later."

He waved and drove off. The feeling of happiness that he had felt with Cas was wearing off, leaving worry for the little brother he had left behind. He hurried home and sucked in a sharp breath when he saw the kitchen light on.

Quietly, he parked the car and stalked inside, wielding a baseball bat from his trunk like a sword. He crept into the kitchen and swung the bat with all his might.

"Aaahhh!" Sam yelled, barely ducking in time to avoid getting clobbered by Dean's bat. He fell to the floor and lay staring up at Dean, panting slightly from fear. "What the hell was that?" he demanded.

"Oh, um, whoops?" Dean offered lamely. "I thought you were a burglar or something. What are you doing up anyway? It's like, three in the morning."

"I got hungry," Sam snapped, pointing to a bowl of cereal on the countertop. He glared at Dean, then the bat, then grabbed his cereal and stalked off to his room. Dean chuckled and put the bat down by the table. He yawned and trudged upstairs, changing into pajamas and falling into bed. He was asleep before he hit the pillow.

 **Castiel's POV**

Castiel was woken up very early in the morning by a blood-curdling scream. Jolting out of bed, he shot downstairs, Lucifer, Michael, and Raphael hot on his heels. The four of them burst into the living room and found Gabriel on the floor, staring at the half-closed back door with terror on his face.

Cas ran over to his brother and hugged him tight while the other three ran into the backyard to see what had scared Gabe.

"Are you okay?" Cas asked, not bothering to mask the concern in his voice. "What happened?"

Gabriel shuddered and grabbed onto Cas' shirt. Mike, Luci and Raph came back in, signaling that they hadn't found anything.

"It was Crowley," Gabriel whispered. The older four stiffened. "He was here a-and he threw a freaking knife at me, but I managed to dodge it, but then he had a gun and he tried to shoot me!."

Lucifer checked and sure enough, there was a small hole with a bullet in it right in front of the door, where Gabriel's foot would have been if he had been any slower in getting inside, and a rather large dagger embedded in the wood next to the doorframe. Gabriel shivered again and Castiel held him closer.

"I'm going to call the police," Michael announced, heading to his study. Luci, Raph, Cas and Gabe sat on the large sofa. Cas and his older brothers were trying to calm Gabriel. He let the other two try to calm Gabe down, and headed into the hallway to make a phone call.

"Hey, Cas," Dean said when he picked up. "How's it going?"

"Not good," Castiel answered, voice wavering for a moment, and he took a deep breath to calm himself before speaking again. "Crowley was here, and he tried to kill Gabriel."

"What?! Is he okay?"

"He's fine, just shaken up. Michael's letting the cops know right now, and I just wanted to keep you posted on the stuff that's going on."

"Okay, stay inside, Cas. I'll be there in ten minutes."

Dean hung up before Cas could respond, and Cas felt warmth fill him. It felt amazing to have a friend willing to drop everything and race to your house because your brother had almost died. Most people Cas knew before the move would have been running for the hills by now.

He went back to the living room and informed his brothers that the Winchesters were coming over. Gabriel perked up considerably at the mention of Sam, and Cas, not for the first time, felt extremely glad that his baby brother had such a close friend.

Not ten minutes later, the doorbell rang. Michael went to answer it, making sure it was Sam and Dean before letting them in. They immediately rushed over to Gabriel, sitting on the couch in a large comforter, and checked him over. They fussed over him for a good five minute before he managed to ward them off.

Sam, however, wouldn't be deterred. He grabbed Gabe's wrist and dragged him up to his room. Gabe had only enough time to shoot his brother a scared look before he was up the stairs and out of sight. Dean looked at him with raised eyebrows. Cas rolled his eyes and allowed Dean to drag him to his own room.

The door closed and he sat on the bed, waiting for Dean to make the first move. He didn't have to wait long. Dean sat down next to him and wrapped his arms around Cas. He looked down and realized that he was still in his pajamas, but he couldn't bring himself to care right then. His heart was still beating faster than normal and his breaths were fast and shallow.

"Are you okay?" Dean asked. Cas shook his head and found his mouth was suddenly as dry as cotton.

"I almost lost him," he rasped. His eyes started stinging but he wouldn't let himself cry, not in front of Dean. "He could've died today. He's my brother, it's my job to protect him, but I almost failed. I can't lose him, Dean."

The tears he had been fighting finally won, pouring down his face in salty trails. Dean just held him tighter.

"I know exactly how you feel," he said. "Sam's done so much crazy shit and has almost died so many times. I know that you feel responsible for him since he's younger than you, but you won't always be there to watch over him. The important thing is that he's alive, he's not hurt. It wasn't you fault, what happened. You wouldn't have been able to stop it."

Castiel felt the truth behind Dean's words sink in and the tears gradually stopped. "Thanks, Dean," he said. The older boy just smiled and released him from the hug. He wiped his face with his sleeve, then headed back downstairs with Dean at his side.

 **Sam's POV**

Only when Sam dragged him to his room and shut the door did Gabriel let the tears fall. Sam was surprised that no one but him had noticed the small tremors wracking Gabe's body, or the way his eyes were watering considerably.

Sam pulled Gabriel onto the floor and they leaned against the wall. Gabe leaned his head against Sam's shoulder and the Winchester could feel wetness spreading across his shirt as his friend cried. Sam didn't say anything, just held him and let him have his moment.

"I almost died, Sam," Gabriel choked out a few moments later. "I'm not ready to die." The tears had stopped, and instead he was not taking huge hiccupping breaths to calm himself.

"I know you aren't," Sam said, stroking Gabriel's soft hair. "But it's okay, you're okay. The police know and we won't let anything happen to you. Your brothers, Dean and I'll protect you."

Gabriel sniffed and wiped his still wet cheeks. "Thanks, Sam."

Sam waited outside the bathroom while Gabriel splashed his face with cold water. The door was closed, but he could hear the water running far longer than it should have. He heard Gabriel suck in a sharp breath.

"Mother fucking shit!" Gabriel half-yelled, and Sam started to get worried. Before he could knock on the door, the water turned off and Gabriel burst out of the bathroom, grabbing Sam's hand and dragging him downstairs.

"Gabriel, what's wrong?" Raphael asked from his place on the couch. The Novaks and older Winchester were sitting around the living room in varying degrees of anger. They all turned worriedly when Gabriel and Sam burst into the room. Gabriel just turned his head to the side, and Sam and half of the room gasped.

There was a huge gash on the side of Gabriel's neck. It didn't seem to be too deep, but it was bleeding a lot and Sam wondered how he hadn't noticed before. Michael was in instant big brother mode. He grabbed his keys and ran outside to start the car. Raphael grabbed a small towel from the hallway closet and pressed it to Gabriel's neck, trying to stop the bleeding.

They all hurried outside and somehow fit into Michael's car and the Impala and sped off towards the hospital, none of them caring that the Novaks were still wearing pajamas. Gabriel was noticeably paler when they finally reached the hospital, and the towel was practically dripping with blood. He was breathing heavily in the backseat of Dean's car and he had a pained look on his face.

Michael and Dean parked their cars, the Novak rushing to the Impala to lift his brother out while Dean and the others ran ahead to get a doctor. Sam stayed by his friends side the whole way into the teeming hospital, heart aching when he noticed how Gabriel had a death grip on his brother's shirt and had a few tears of pain rolling down his cheeks.

"I don't care about your stupid policy, he needs help now!" Lucifer's angry voice forced Sam's eyes to the front desk where Dean, Lucifer, Raphael and Castiel were glaring at the receptionist. He furrowed his brow and moved closer, trying to figure out what was causing Lucifer to look so furious.

"Sir, please understand," the receptionist said. "We simply cannot allow any patients to be seen to until the proper paperwork had been filled out, judging the severity of the injury or ailment."

Sam's jaw dropped in outrage and he began to see red. How dare this woman?! He pushed his way to the front of the small crowd until he was invading her space.

"Listen up, lady," he snarled. "My friend is hurt, he is losing blood fast, and he'll die if he isn't seen to now. And if he dies, I swear to fucking God that I will sue your ass so bad that your grandkids will still owe me money, and that's if these guys," he pointed to the angry older people behind him, "don't shiv your stupid ass first." He stepped back until she could see Gabriel and Sam's heart sank a little when he saw that the boy had passed out. "He needs medical attention immediately, so unless you want to be limping home, I suggest you get a damn doctor down here, _now._ "

Sam could see the shock in the the Novaks' eyes when the nurse paled and paged a doctor. He knew he could be pretty scary if he wanted to, and had used that to his advantage many times before. He bit his lip worriedly and turned to look at Gabriel, limp in Michael's arms. He was a lot paler and was breathing shallowly.

Sam was immensely relieved when a doctor and two nurses came running into the room with a gurney. Gabriel was placed on it, wheeled away, and the rest of the group was led to a small waiting room, meant to hold only one family for privacy.

It was there that Michael turned on Sam accusingly, pointing his finger and backing the boy up against a wall.

"What happened?" he demanded. Sam could see Dean tense up in his chair, but he didn't have to do anything as Raphael pulled Michael back.

"Mike, calm down," he said. "It wasn't his fault. The knife that Crowley threw probably got him when he ducked."

Michael relaxed a little and apologized to Sam, but they were all still extremely upset. Michael was pacing around the small room, Lucifer sat rigidly in his chair clenching and unclenching his fists, Raphael was pale and sat hunched in his chair, Dean and Cas were on a small sofa, eyes unfocused and mouths thin.

Sam closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. He figured that worrying wouldn't help Gabriel at all, so he tried to get some sleep instead. Still, no matter how much he tried to repress it, worry still bubbled up in him and made sleep impossible.

Sam didn't know how long they sat there until a nurse came, but it felt like hours to Sam. He sat forward in his seat as she told them how Gabriel was.

"He lost a lot of blood, but not so much that he needed a transfusion. He received eight stitches to the wound on his neck and is awake now. He's a little weak, so we're going to keep him overnight just to be safe."

"Can we see him?" Castiel asked. The nurse nodded and led them to a room at the end of a busy hallway. The six of them crammed themselves around the bed. Gabriel was awake and sitting up, still in his pajamas. There was a large pad of gauze on his neck.

"Hi," he said when they all came in. Sam beamed at him and Gabe smiled back, crushed slightly by the huge hugs he was getting from his five brothers. They stayed in the hospital with him for hours, until their own rumbling stomachs forced them to leave.

Michael was still worried, though, and flat out refused to leave Gabe alone.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked him when he stopped outside Gabe's room. The other four had already left and were heading to the car.

"Crowley attacked him while we were all in the house. Who's to say he won't somehow get to him in a hospital?" Michael said. Sam frowned while he thought about it. He had to admit, Michael was right. He didn't feel comfortable leaving his friend alone here.

"I'll stay with him while you guys get lunch," he offered. "Dean already knows what I like to eat."

"Thanks, Sam," Michael said, then followed the others to the parking lot. Sam went back into the room and sat down in one of the chairs by the bed. Gabriel had fallen asleep about an hour ago, and he was still out. Sam gently took one of his limp hands and held it, leaning back in his chair and falling asleep almost instantly.

 **Gabriel's POV**

Gabriel woke up several hours later. He rubbed his eyes and checked his watch. It was four in the afternoon and he was starving. He hadn't eaten anything all day and the IV didn't count. He looked around and found that everyone was gone. Wait, not everyone, there was someone sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. the lights were off and the blinds closed, so Gabriel couldn't see who it was.

"Michael?" he asked, cautiously. The figure started and moved closer. Sam rubbed his eyes and yawned, smiling at Gabriel with sleep in his eyes.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Hungry," Gabriel replied, sitting up and absentmindedly playing with the wire in his arm.

"I figured you might say that," Sam said. He stopped Gabriel's hand and went over to the chair right next to the bed. There was a McDonald's bag there that Gabe hadn't noticed. Sam pulled out a burger and fries and handed them to him. His mouth watered and he scarfed them down quickly, not caring how bad it was for you.

"Where's everyone else?" he asked as he munched on the last of the fries.

"Home," Sam replied. "They left about an hour ago. Michael's at the police station trying to get you a bodyguard or something since they won't let us stay with you tonight." Gabriel nodded and rubbed at the gash on his neck.

Sam stayed with him until visiting hours were over and a nurse forced him to go. Sam made him promise to call Michael and let him know that he was alone, and wouldn't leave until Gabe promised he would.

So, as soon as Sam left, Gabriel grabbed his phone from the table next to his bed and called his eldest brother.

"Hey, Gabe," Michael said when he picked up. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine. Sam just wanted me to call to let you know that they made him leave and I'm by myself over here."

"You're alone?" Michael's voice sounded slightly panicky. "Okay, call a nurse and tell her that you are not to be left alone, got it?"

"Sure, Michael. Hey, do I have to go to school tomorrow?"

"No, you don't, but you do have to do whatever homework is assigned. I'll make sure that Sam brings you everything you'll need."

Gabriel groaned and Michael laughed. "Fine. Okay, I'm going to call the nurse now. Bye, Mikey."

"Bye, Gabe. Be careful, we don't know if Crowley or any of the other members of the cartel can get to you in the hospital."

"I'll be fine, stop worrying."

He hung up the phone before Michael could reply and hit the button that would call a nurse. Not two minutes later she was standing in his room.

"Yes?" she said, looking at him expectantly.

"Right, um… So I'm kind of being targeted by an assassin that works for a drug mafia, and I don't know if I'll be entirely safe here, so my brother wants someone with me at all times."

The nurse laughed a little, but when she saw that he was being serious, she agreed to stay with him that night. She sat down in a chair and called her supervisor, letting him know what was going on. Gabriel waited patiently until she was done, then asked her if she knew any games they could play to alleviate his boredom. Luckily, she had a deck of cards in her pocket for just such an occasion.

()()()

The next morning, Lucifer and Raphael were there as soon as they were able. Michael was working, and Sam, Dean, and Cas had to go to school. Gabe waved to Nina the b=nurse as she left, thanking her for staying with him and keeping him entertained.

"Who was that?" Luci asked when she had left.

"Her name is Nina," Gabriel said. "She stayed with me last night because Michael was being paranoid and didn't want me to be alone."

"Well, he's right, you know," Raph said. "You're in danger as long as Crowley and the others are still free."

"So are you guys," Gabriel said, pouting a little. Luci laughed at his expression and handed him a large grocery bag. Gabe opened it and felt his heart sing at the sight before him. The bag was full of all of Gabe's favorite types of candy: lollipops, candy corn, gummy bears, chocolate bars, and much more.

"Consider it a get well soon present," Luci said. Gabriel wasted no time in ripping open a lollipop and sticking it in his mouth. Raph glared at them both.

"That's so bad for him," he said to Luci, and Gabe remembered that he was training to be a doctor. "What kind of big brother are you?"

"An awesome one," Luci answered, helping himself to a chocolate bar. They stayed with him until school ended, then they went back home to catch up on their online classes. Sam, Dean and Cas had brought him lots of stuff to keep him occupied. His laptop, phone charger, notebook, and the book he was currently reading were presented to him inside his backpack.

He was extremely grateful as hospitals were so much more boring than they made them seem on TV and in books. Luckily, the doctor said that as long as he took it easy, he could go home that day. Of course, he was ecstatic when Michael finally came to fill out the paperwork, and so was Sam.

As soon as they got back to the Novak's house, the two of them rushed up to Gabriel's room, where they decided that a movie marathon was in order. Sam picked out the movies he wanted to watch while Gabriel went to the kitchen and made eight bags of popcorn. He found a bunch of large bowls and dumped the popcorn into them. It took him three trips to get it all up to his room.

By the time they finished the last movie, they were exhausted and had terrible stomach aches.

"Maybe that wasn't such a good idea," Gabriel groaned, checking the clock on his bedside table. It was midnight already.

"Maybe you're right," Sam answered. Dean had given him permission to skip school the next day, though he and Cas were still going, and Sam and Gabriel were having a sleepover. The two of them crept down to the kitchen, trying not to wake up the other members of the house. They grabbed two water bottles from the fridge and headed back upstairs to Gabe's room.

"I'm exhausted," Sam moaned when he sat down on his sleeping bag. Gabriel nodded in agreement and chugged half of his water bottle. His eyelids felt heavy and he could see Sam already passed out on the floor. Gabe gulped the last of the water and lay back on his pillows. His eyes closed and the last thing he saw before he fell asleep was the creepy looking evil grin that Crowley had on his face when he had tried to kill him. Needless to say, his dreams were not pleasant.


	7. Chapter 7

**Dean's POV**

School was incredibly boring that day. It was only the fifth day, but he already felt like it was a waste of time and energy. He had allowed Sam to skip today to stay with Gabriel and now he was wishing that he had allowed himself to skip, too.

Luckily, he had Cas to suffer with him. The two of them went through their day with attitudes that could be compared to depression. School had no meaning if Sam and Gabe weren't there, too. At lunch, they sat with a small group of Dean's friends, and Cas' friends came up all throughout lunch to offer their condolences on Gabriel being in the hospital.

"So, Cas," Charlie said, pointing at him with a fry. "What exactly happened to your brother to land him in the hospital?"

Dean saw Cas tense almost imperceptibly. No one knew that the Novaks were being targeted by assassins, and they wanted to keep it that way, but they hadn't had time to come up with a lie to tell the people at school.

"Oh, uh...he was running...with a knife...and he tripped! Yeah, he tripped and slashed himself across the neck with it." Cas threw Dean a look and Dean gave a tiny nod. That was the story he'd be telling his friends if they asked. And ask they did. Cas and Gabe's friends wanted to know what had happened to Gabe, Sam's friends wanted to know what had happened to Sam, and Dean's friends wanted to know what everyone else was asking about.

Needless to say, the day was tiring and redundant, and the two of them were more than happy to go home. When they got back to the Novak house, it was quiet. Too quiet, like there was no one in the house. Cas and Dean shared a confused look before they split up and checked the house. No one was there, which was weird as Michael's car was still parked in the driveway.

Dean pulled out his phone and texted Sam while Cas did the same with Gabe.

 **Dean: Hey where are you guys?**

It took forever for Sam to respond, and Dean was incredibly worried by that time.

 **Sam: Hey Dean, sorry. We're at this park near Gabe's house. It was close so we decided to walk.**

 **Dean: OK, we'll be there soon.**

Dean told Cas where their brothers were and they set off, backpacks and all. It took them ten minutes to reach the park, and it wasn't hard to locate Sam and the others, seeing as they were the only ones there.

Michael, Lucifer and Raphael were on their laptops on a bench, the three of them totally absorbed in what they were doing. Gabe was sitting on a swing, watching Sam try to climb a tree. As they got closer, they could hear him shout out unhelpful tips.

"Try not to let go!" he yelled, cackling madly when Sam shot him the bird. Dean and Cas sat on the swings on either side of him. "Hey, guys. What's up?"

"Not much," Dean answered, pulling out his math journal. He opened it to a fresh page and started on the equations he had been assigned. "How're you?"

"In pain and unable to eat any candy at all."

"Dude, all that candy can't be good for you."

"Yeah, I know. I don't care, though."

"Why aren't you taking your painkillers?" Cas asked.

"Use your muscles, Sammykins!" he yelled, and waited for Sam to yell "Shut the fuck up, Gabriel Novak!" before answering. "I don't do pills. Remember what happened last time?"

"I thought you were over that," Cas smirked, flipping the page in the book he was reading. Dean looked up curiously and was about to ask what had happened when Gabe shot up from the swing, eyes trained on Sam.

"Not that one, not that one," he muttered. Dean and Cas looked up to see Sam reaching for a branch. Dean's eyes went a little wide when he saw how high Sam had gotten. "Shit!" Gabriel yelled, then took off at a sprint towards the tree. Dean jumped up and watched him, wondering what was wrong. He didn't wonder long, however, as there was a loud crack, a scream and then Sam was falling out of the tree, fast.

Gabriel had already reached the tree and was waiting. He caught Sam, letting out a loud _oomf!_ and falling flat on his back. Dean, Cas and the other Novaks ran over, pulling them up and checking for injuries. Sam was fine, just a little shaken. He stayed close to Dean's side, but seemed more worried about Gabe.

The youngest Novak was wheezing for breath and Dean gave him a sympathetic look. He knew how heavy Sam was. Luckily, none of his stitches had come undone and nothing was bruised or broken, so Michael, Lucifer and Raphael headed back to their bench after giving a half-hearted lecture to Sam about his tree climbing, and the four high schoolers went to the swings.

"Thanks, Gabe," Sam said when they were all seated on the swings.

"No problem," Gabriel said back, swinging back and forth.

"How did you know he was going to fall?" Dean asked curiously.

"See that branch?" he asked, pointing to the medium sized branch that Sam had grabbed onto. It was dangling from the tree by a few strips of bark, swaying dangerously in the wind. "It was rotten and I knew it wouldn't be able to support Sam's weight."

"You were able to tell that the branch was rotten from here?" Cas asked incredulously. Gabriel shrugged and swung higher. Dean watched him with amusement for a while before going back to his homework.

 **Castiel's POV**

Castiel tried to concentrate on his book, but it was really hard to when Gabriel was swinging so hard that the whole thing shuddered when he came back down.

"Gabe, can you stop?" he asked exasperatedly. Gabe just laughed and stuck his tongue out at his brother. Cas sighed and gathered his stuff, seeking refuge from Gabe's childish antics at the top of a slide. There he found peace, and was finally able to get back to his book.

He wasn't as much of a reader as Gabriel was, but when he did read, it didn't take him long to go into a reader's trance, where he got lost in the book and was completely oblivious to everything around him. As such, he didn't look up from his book until much later.

"Castiel!" Raph's voice cut through the trance, making Cas look around in confusion. The sun had gone down, clearly hours had passed, but Cas hadn't noticed. He stood up slowly, stretching his aching muscles, and looked around.

Mike, Luci and Raph were packing up their stuff, while Dean, Sam and Gabe stood by. They were obviously getting ready to leave. Cas hurriedly shoved his stuff back into his backpack and joined his brothers.

"Where have you been?" Luci asked. "You left like, hours ago."

"I was reading and I lost track of the time," Cas said, holding up his book. Luci just shook his head with a fond smile on his face. Gabriel led the way to the gate at the front of the park, walking with exaggerated happiness. He turned and walked backwards, beaming at the group behind him. Castiel rolled his eyes and opened his book again. It was actually pretty interesting despite the fact that it had been assigned by an eighty-year-old woman who had no idea that it was no longer the fifties. He was going into a trance again when he was interrupted by a loud gasp. He looked up to see that the group had stopped moving and he soon saw why.

The park was surrounded by a very tall metal fence. There was only one way in or out of the park, the gate. Currently, though, the gate was closed, meaning that the group was trapped in the park. Not good.

They walked up to the gate and pushed experimentally, not really surprised when it didn't budge. They were well and truly trapped.

"Can we get out another way?" Sam asked, sliding a little closer to Dean for comfort.

"This is the only way out, unless you want to climb over the fence," Raph replied. Gabriel's face took on 'The Look', and Cas wasn't the only one to see it.

"No way, Gabe," Michael said, catching their brother heading over to the fence. "It wasn't an actual suggestion, you aren't going to climb over the fence."

"Oh, come on, Mike," Gabe whined. "I'll be fine! Do you want to be stuck here forever?"

"Don't be such a drama queen. We'll just call the park services." He pointed to a sign on the gate, a phone number clearly visible. He pulled out his phone and turned his back to Gabe, ending the discussion.

Gabriel crossed his arms and pouted, coming to stand next to Cas. They stood that way for a while, shivering in the cooling air. Finally, after a few minutes of silence, Michael turned back to the group with an irritated expression on his face.

"No one's picking up," he said.

"So are we actually stuck here? 'Cause I have stuff to do," Luci said. He, Raph and Mike looked worried, and were clearly trying to hide it. But it didn't help, as Cas was starting to panic a little and, judging by their facial expressions, so were Sam, Dean and Gabe.

"Of course not," said a loud voice, answering Luci's question. We all spun around to face whoever was there. Standing a few feet from us was a pretty short dude with light brown hair. He had a large tattoo of a dragon winding up his arm, and I remembered the first day Gabe told us of his stalker.

My heart skipped a beat, and I wasn't the only one to recognize him. Beside me, Gabriel had gone pale and his eyes were wide.

"Crowley," he whispered.

 **Sam's POV**

Sam gasped a little, though he doubted anyone heard. _Crowley_ was here. The man who had been stalking and attempting to murder his best friend. Sam felt rage boil up inside him but it was quickly pushed down by his fear.

"Hello, loves," he said and Sam was surprised by his polite sounding British accent. "Fancy meeting you here." He grinned at their obvious discomfort and stalked towards them. He stopped in front of Gabriel and Sam had to restrain himself from attacking Crowley; that would not end well.

"You've been particularly difficult to get rid of," he sneered. "Though it isn't for lack of trying." He ran his finger over the bandages on Gabe's neck and Gabe shivered and pressed himself into Cas' side. Michael and the other older Novaks pull their little brothers and the Winchesters behind them protectively.

Sam peers around Raph's side and sees Crowley still standing there, looking like this was a normal chance meeting between old friends.

"Anywho, I'm going to skip the whole 'I've got you where I want you, you have no hope of escape' rant. I do have places to be, you know."

He pulls a pistol out of his coat pocket and aims it at Michael. The eldest Novak doesn't flinch, but everyone else does. Crowley cocks the gun and pulls the trigger, laughing when they all gasp and flinch. Michael is still standing, looking a little confused but relieved.

 _They're just blanks,_ Sam thinks, followed by, _That bastard is just playing with us!_ He notices something strange on Raphael's back and moves his hand to brush it off. But the little red dot just passes over his hand. Snipers. Sam looks around and, sure enough, all of them had a light trained somewhere on their person.

Sam looks around wildly, trying to locate the people who have their fingers on the trigger that could end their lives, but they are too well concealed. Crowley stops laughing finally, and pulls a different gun out of the other pocket. His face is serious now, and Sam is chilled by the look he sees in his eyes.

"Seriously this time," the man says. "This one isn't loaded with blanks." He once more cocks the gun and points it at Michael, and Sam's heart is pounding in his chest and his breathing is becoming faster and more shallow and his eyes are so wide he's surprised that they haven't popped out of their sockets and-

"You're bluffing!" Sam yelled, pushing forward to stand in front of the three intent on protecting them. Dean and Gabe hiss his name but he ignores them. All of his attention is on the man in front of them, whose expression has turned into one of amusement as he looks at the small fourteen-year-old.

"Am I?" he challenges.

"Yes," Sam says confidently back. "If you were really going to kill us, you would have done it already. But you aren't going to get your hands dirty, are you? That's why you have the snipers' guns trained on us."

He can hear small gasps as the others notice the lights for the first time, but he doesn't turn around. Crowley is clapping slowly at him, sneering.

"Well done," he says. "Not that it took a lot of brainpower to figure out. Your little quote unquote _discovery_ doesn't change the fact that my job is to kill you, and I never leave a job unfinished."

"Why?" Lucifer asks, and when Crowley's attention is fixed on him, Raph pushes him back behind him again.

"What were you thinking?" Gabriel spits, eyes narrowed to slits. Sam shrugs, looking past the anger and seeing the barely masked concern in his honey colored eyes.

"If we survive this," Dean whispers , "you are grounded for a month!" Sam ignores him again and turns back to the more pressing issue.

"...already killed our parents, why do you have to come after us, too?" Lucifer is saying and Sam hears his voice crack on the word parents.

"Because like I said, I never leave a job unfinished," Crowley states like it's the most obvious thing in the world. He smirks, and Sam can see that he knows they were just stalling. But stalling for what exactly? "After my boss was so rudely thrown in jail by your father and his police friends, he sent me a note saying to kill the Novaks. So I did. I had my men kill your parents. But imagine my surprise when I discovered that there were more than two.

"Now, I had no idea if the big man only wanted Mr. and Mrs. Novak, or if he meant you brats as well, but better safe than sorry, right?"

Way off in the distance, Sam hears the very faint sound of police sirens. He hopes that they drive past the park, please drive past the park…

"Why didn't you kill us before?" Michael asks. Crowley's expression turns to one of annoyance and Sam can tell he's about done with the questions.

"Because you were too well guarded before, first by the police, and then by the extremely watchful neighborhood you all lived in. I was watching you, oh believe me, I was. But the opportunity never presented itself until now."

The sirens come closer, and apparently Crowley hears them, too, for he turns serious again and raises his gun.

"Enough stalling," he snarls. "Let's get this done, unless you would prefer to take this somewhere more private where your deaths could be more...creative?"

Sam and Gabriel shiver and their brothers pull them close. Sam looks up and sees Dean and Cas, both of them obviously terrified, but holding it together for the sakes of their younger brothers.

Crowley raises his hand and Sam can just barely hear what sounded suspiciously like seven hidden guns cocking. Cas starts hyperventilating a little and Dean pulls him close, kissing his messy black hair.

Sam closes his eyes and prepares for the worst.

 **Gabriel's POV**

Gabe could see Sam close his eyes, hear Cas breathing fast and Dean tensing up. He felt tears prick the backs of his eyes and he furiously blinks them away. He wouldn't give Crowley the satisfaction of seeing him cry.

He hides his face in Luci's warm jacket and waits for the sound of seven gunshots to ring out. Instead, he is met with silence. After an impossibly long moment, Gabe looks up and nearly cries with relief. The red dots signaling the targets of the snipers have disappeared.

Crowley looks furious, and is looking around suspiciously. Finally, he turns back to Michael and raises his gun.

"I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty," he spits. Just as he is about to pull the trigger, a new voice rings out.

"Freeze!"

Gabriel looks around and sees police officers flooding the park, kicking open the gate and dropping from trees. Gabriel hadn't even heard any of them, and neither had Crowley, if the surprise on his face is anything to go by.

At least six officers train their guns on him and he reluctantly raises his hand, scowling at the group of incredibly relieved people in the middle of the chaos. Gabriel pushes forward and wraps his arms around the closest older brother, who happened to be Luci, and hugs him tight in relief. Strong arms return the hug and he closes his eyes to prevent the tears from spilling.

He doesn't notice when, in a fit of Herculean strength, Crowley breaks free of the officers, raises his gun and shoots. He hears Sam shout before the pain hits him, but then the agony is so much that he instantly crumples. He looks up and sees six pairs of eyes hovering over him, but only one pair sticks out.

He pays no attention to the blood pooling around him, nor the extremely painful pulsing in his left shoulder, and focuses on the hazel orbs staring worriedly down at him. There are mouths moving and muffled shouts, but Gabriel can't make out any words.

 _I must be going into shock,_ he realized. Everything was going blurry, and the pain was unbearable, and black spots were dancing around his vision, but all he can see are those amazing hazel irises. And they are the last thing he sees when he closes his eyes.

()()()

 _Beep...beep...beep…_

Steady beeping lead Gabriel out of unconsciousness. He blinked open his eyes slowly and looked around. He was back in the hospital, but in a different room this time. He was hooked up to a heart monitor and an IV, and was in one of those annoying green hospital gowns. Joy.

His shoulder was throbbing, but it wasn't terrible, and the cut on his neck was hurting again. He groaned a little when he tried to move. The sound of pain alerted whoever else was in the room that he was awake. He heard a rustle of clothes and suddenly found himself looking into those eyes again. He blinked, and they blinked back at him.

"Your eyes are really beautiful," he said before he could stop himself, but he didn't regret it. Sam blushed and chose not to respond to that comment.

"How are you feeling?" he asked. Gabriel gave him a look, an 'I-can't-believe-you-just-said-that-are-you-really-that-stupid-or-do-you-have-problems?' look. "Okay, nevermind. Stupid question."

"Where's everyone else?" Gabriel asked, realising that Sam was the only one hovering over him at the moment. He felt a little disappointed that there wasn't more attention trained on him, but that was quickly overshadowed by him joy at having Sam all to himself.

"Michael, Lucifer and Raphael are at your house working and Dean and Cas are getting food," he said, sitting back down in his chair.

Gabriel nodded and pushed the button on his little remote that would raise the hospital bed. He grinned and played with it a little more, making minuscule adjustments to the height of the bed. Only Sam's glare made him stop.

"By the way," Sam said suddenly, "I think your eyes are really pretty, too." This time it was Gabriel who blushed. He smiled shyly up at Sam, who beamed back at him. Sam looked like he wanted to say something else, but the door flew open with a loud bang and Dean and Cas came in, carrying bags of food.

"Gabe!" Cas exclaimed upon seeing his brother awake. He thrust his bag at Dean and ran forward, grabbing Gabriel in a tight hug but still being careful of his injured shoulder. He still gasped a little when his shoulder was jostled, and Cas quickly released him. "Sorry. How are you feeling?"

Gabe gave him the same look he gave Sam, and Cas chuckled a little. He waited until Dean and Cas were comfortable and they were all eating before he asked his next question.

"So why am I not dead?" he asked nonchalantly. Three burgers froze halfway to three mouths and six eyes widened at the bluntness of the question.

"Uhh," Sam drawled, unsure how to answer. Gabriel felt the need to clarify what he had said.

"I mean, we were pretty far from the hospital, how did I not bleed to death? And how come it doesn't hurt? I'm pretty sure that getting shot hurts."

"There were paramedics on hand," Dean said after rolling his eyes. "They managed to get you into an ambulance quick enough to save you. The bullet missed anything important, it just went into your shoulder."

"As for why it doesn't hurt," Sam chimed in, "the doctors gave you a buttload of painkillers after you came out of your surgery."

"Surgery?"

"Yeah, they had to get the bullet out somehow."

Gabe was quiet, letting them take a few bites of their food before once more asking a question.

"What happened to Crowley?" he asked.

"He was arrested, obviously," Dean said around a mouthful of burger. "But he gave up every other gang member in order to reduce his own sentence, so it looks like this crazy thing is over with for you guys."

Cas smiled at him and Gabe smiled back, both of them relieved beyond measure that they were no longer in danger of being assassinated. Nina the nurse came in a little while later and fussed over Gabe, giving him the mothering that he so strongly desired.

When she sat on the bed and started running her hands through his hair to comfort him, he threw a smug look at Sam, only to have confusion take its place. Was that jealousy in Sam's eyes? Why was he jealous? Nina was like, a million times older than he was.

Even so, he didn't like the angry look on Sam's face and pretended to be tired to get her to leave. It worked, and she exited the room after checking on his IV, promising to come back later with some food.

Sam relaxed considerably after she was gone, and even came and sat next to Gabe on the bed. Dean and Cas didn't notice, they were too busy staring at each other. Sam and Gabe both snorted with laughter, seeing how enamored their brothers were with each other.

"So, how long have I been out?" Gabe asked Sam a while later. Dean and Cas had left a little while ago to let Gabe's other brothers know he was awake.

"Not long," Sam answered, absentmindedly running his hands through Gabe's hair. He didn't seem to notice he was doing it, and Gabe wasn't about to tell him to stop anytime soon. "The showdown with Crowley, as Dean calls it, was yesterday."

"Oh," Gabe said. "How long do I have to stay here? 'Cause I have stuff to do, you know." Sam gave him an exasperated look.

"Dude, you got shot! You have to stay here for at least a week, the doctor says. You lost a lot of blood but it wasn't enough for you to need a transfusion. And the bullet damaged the muscle in your shoulder. You'll be able to use it again, it'll just be really painful for a while, so they want to keep you here for observation."

Gabriel groaned. "I'm going to be so behind in school! I'll have to take summer classes."

Sam laughed at Gabriel's obvious distress and leaned in close in mock sympathy.

"It's okay," he cooed. "I'm sure that you and all the third graders in summer school will get along just fine."

Sam laughed again when Gabriel growled at him. The two fell back into a comfortable silence, the only sound being the beeping of the heart monitor still attached to Gabriel's chest. Gabe';s eyes started drooping after a while, and he leaned back on his bed.

Sam looked at him worriedly for a moment before realizing that he was just getting tired. Sam got off the bed and sat in the chair closest to the bed and took Gabe's hand, unconsciously rubbing circles across it with his thumb, the motion was very comforting and Gabriel felt himself slipping under the blanket of slumber.

His last thought before he fell asleep was how Sam always seemed to be touching him, as if he just couldn't help himself. Gabe found it oddly endearing and he had a small smile on his face when he finally succumbed to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**Dean's POV**

Dean and Cas drove back to the Winchester house in comfortable silence. After they told Cas' brothers that Gabriel was awake, they decided that it would be a good idea to go home and relax after everything that had happened.

He pulled into the driveway and they exited the car, Dean pausing briefly to run his hand lovingly over its hood. Cas rolled his eyes and followed Dean into the house. He was wearing a tan trenchcoat over his usual black jeans, white shirt and tie.

It was a pretty strange combination, but Dean thought it suited him. It was pretty badass, actually, the way it billowed out behind him when he walked. Not that Dean would ever admit it out loud.

"So, what do you want to do?" Cas asked, interrupting the silence. Dean shrugged and Cas scoffed. "Helpful." He waited another minute to see if Dean would come up with a suggestion before pulling his sketchpad and a drawing pencil out of his backpack. He sat down cross-legged in front of the back door and opened the large notepad.

Curious, Dean sat down next to him and watched him work. Cas didn't seem to notice he was there. He was completely absorbed in his work. Dean sat with his back against the window and looked on with awe as his friend sketched. He seemed to have no particular goal in mind, just drawing for the fun of it.

For a while, the only sounds were the soft breathing of the two boys and the scratchy noise of a pencil on thick paper. Dean let his eyes droop and then close, falling into a light doze. He didn't know how much later it was when he was woken up by Cas.

He had finally looked up from his drawing and was looking outside with wide eyes. He bit his lip and moved so that he was sitting next to Dean, their sides pressed together. Dean looked out the large glass door and saw that storm clouds had gathered and rain was falling pretty heavily.* Cars stared resolutely at his sketchpad, not moving.

Lightning flashed through the sky, closely followed by thunder, and Cas flinched like he had been slapped. Oh. Cas was afraid of thunderstorms. Dean silently put his arm around Cas and pulled him close, resting his cheek on the top of Cas' soft head. The smaller boy shot him a grateful look and snuggled deeper into Dean's leather jacket.

The next thunderclap was huge and violent, coming out of nowhere and making even Dean jump in surprise. Dean looked at the wind whipping through the trees and the dark grey sky, then at the blue-eyed boy looking up at him.

"Come on, Cas," he said, pulling them both up. Cas grabbed his stuff and followed Dean up the stairs and into his room. Dean closed the door behind them and pulled Cas down next to him on his bed. They leaned against the headboard, still pressed up against each other, but Dean didn't mind.

Castiel bit his lip and opened his book to the drawing he had been working on. Dean peered at it curiously, eager to see what the boy had been working on while he had been asleep. It was a drawing of a face. Well, actually, more like two faces merged into one. The left side of the face had wide blue eyes, messy black hair and a shy smile. The right side had bright green eyes, freckles on the nose and a huge grin.

It was incredible how life like the drawing was, regardless of the fact that it was two different people.

"This is amazing, Cas," Dean said, gently taking the sketchpad so he could study the drawing better. "How long did it take you to draw this?"

"Not long," Cas shrugged. "Like, forty-five minutes." Another crash of lightning made him flinch and he grabbed Dean's arm.

"Cas, are you afraid of thunderstorms?" Dean asked. He knew that Cas was, but he just wanted to make sure in case it was something else.

"Yeah," Cas mumbled, blushing a little in embarrassment. "I know it's stupid, but I've always been afraid of thunder and lightning, ever since I was a kid."

Dean didn't say anything, just nodded. A particularly loud burst of thunder shook the house, causing the lights to flicker and die out. Cas gasped softly, and Dean was about to says something comforting when he heard a quiet "Awesome" come from Cas' mouth.

"How is this awesome?" he asked, annoyed. He hated losing power. It meant no light when it got dark, no TV or video games and no phone charger if his phone died.

"I love losing power," Cas said excitedly. There was another thunderclap but he didn't seem to notice. "I don't even know why, it's such an inconvenience, but it's always been so much fun, too. Come on!" Abandoning his stuff on Dean's bed, he grabbed Dean's hand and dragged him downstairs.

He made Dean grab every pillow and blanket in the house and bring them to the living room, where he got to work on making a fort. Dean watched with amusement, seeing how child-like his friend was at the moment. But he had to admit, the kid could make a pretty damn good fort.

The thing was huge, and took up most of the living room. Not a single pillow went to waste, and Cas had even added a nest of blankets in the middle of the fort for them to sit in. He pulled Dean inside and grinned at him.

"Isn't this awesome?" he asked.

"It actually is," Dean replied, looking around.

"Don't sound so surprised," Cas laughed. The two of them spent the rest of the afternoon in the fort, only coming out to grab food from the kitchen. Eventually, the storm moved on and the power came back on, but the two of them turned all the lights back off and sat in the fort on darkness.

Dean grabbed a flashlight from the kitchen and brought it back so they could see, but other than that there was no light in the house whatsoever.

"I," Cas declared hours later, after he had beaten Dean at chess for the fifteenth time, "am exhausted." Dean had to agree. His phone told him it was eleven at night, but he hadn't even noticed it had gotten so late. He was having too much fun.

"Me, too," Dean yawned. He suddenly remembered about Sam and felt guilt ripple through him. He had forgotten about his brother! Who does that? Shaking his head at himself, he texted Sam and then Michael, using the number he had been given the day he and Cas went to see that movie.

 **Dean to Sam: Hey, where are you? Are you okay?**

 **Dean to Michael: Hi, Michael. Is it alright if Cas stays over tonight, or do you want me to drop him off?**

 **Sam: I'm fine, Dean. That nurse Nina pulled a few favors and the hospital is letting me stay over with Gabe tonight.**

 **Michael: It's fine if Cas stays there tonight, I don't want you driving when there's so many tree branches in the road from the storm.**

 **Sam: Also, Gabe wants to know how Cas is doing with the storm and all.**

 **Dean to Sam: He was freaked at first, but he was fine once the power went out.**

 **Dean to Michael: Cool, thanks Michael. I'll drop him off tomorrow.**

 **Michael: Okay, see you then.**

 **Sam: Cool. I have to go, Gabe wants to make balloons out of latex gloves. See you tomorrow, Dean.**

 **Dean to Sam: Later, Sammy.**

Dean looked down from his phone and saw that Cars had fallen asleep in the time he had taken to text their brothers. Chuckling, he put away the chess pieces and roughly shoved it out of the fort. He gently shook Cas awake and felt his heart do a weird flip-flop thing when he saw Cas' huge sleepy eyes blink open.

"Cas," he whispered. "You're staying here tonight. Come on, let's go get you some pajamas."

"Okay," Cas replied sleepily, rubbing his eyes. He yawned and stumbled after Dean. Dean gave him an old but comfortable pair of sweatpants and and a plain white t-shirt. He pushed Cas into the bathroom and handed him a toothbrush before changing into his own pajamas.

He headed to his room and was about to close the door when he paused. Cas was heading back downstairs for some reason.

"Cas, where are you going?" he hissed. "The guest rooms are that way, you know that."

"I'm sleeping in the fort tonight," he replied simply.

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"...Touché"

Dean watched Cas walk downstairs, then looked back at his room. Ah, what the hell. He grabbed a blanket and a pillow and followed his friend downstairs.

 **Castiel's POV**

Sunlight streaming through the glass back door woke Cas up the next morning. He slowly opened his eyes, looking around him and noticing that the fort had held up nicely last night, despite Dean's constant shuffling around.

Speaking of, the other boy was already up. Cas peered out of the door he had made in the fort and saw him in the kitchen making breakfast. As silently as he could, Cas crept out of the fort and into the bathroom. He brushed his teeth, attempted to flatten his hair and put on his trenchcoat.

He knew he must look ridiculous walking around with a trenchcoat on indoors, and over top of pajamas, no less, but he didn't really care. The trenchcoat was like a security blanket for him, and one of his most prized possessions.

He walked back into the kitchen, sitting at the table with his head in his hand, watching Dean cook. The Winchester didn't notice him until he turned around, jumping a foot in the air and letting out a very unmanly shriek.

"Dammit, Cas," he snapped, holding a hand over his heart. "Were you trying to kill me?"

Castiel hid his smirk, barely, and didn't reply. Dean glared at him and set down the plate of pancakes he had been holding. Cas waited until Dean was sitting to dig in. The meal was silent, save for the sounds of two teenage boys tearing into their food like rabid wolves.

They were both stuffed by the time they were done, waddling over to the sofa and plopping down.

"That was a lot of food," Dean mumbled. Cas just groaned in response, rubbing his overstuffed stomach. Dean laughed at his expression and pulled himself into a sitting position. "Let's go for a walk. It'll help us digest our food." Cas agreed, so the two of them headed up to Dean's room to find some clothes.

Cas hadn't planned on spending the night at Dean's place, so all he had were his dirty clothes from yesterday, shoved into his backpack along with his sketchbook and pencil kit. Luckily, he and Dean were about the same size. Dean made him sit on the bed, looking him over head to toe before turning to his closet.

Cas watched with amusement as Dean mumbled to himself, rifling through his clothes. Finally, he turned around with a triumphant expression on his face and threw some clothes at Cas. He went to the bathroom to change and he had to say, the clothes Dean picked out for him weren't too bad.

He was wearing a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and a black AC/DC t-shirt. Paired with his black Converse, he didn't look too bad, even though it wasn't something he would normally pick out for himself. Still, there was some satisfaction in knowing that he was wearing Dean's clothes. Weird, right?

Once Dean was dressed, they set out aimlessly, just enjoying each others' company and the destruction that the storm had caused. The sky was still gray and everything was wet, but the most prominent effect the storm had was the tree branches. They were all over the place, and some yards had even had whole trees knocked over.

It was strangely fun watching people scurry around, cleaning up the branches off the road and sidewalk.

Dean suddenly grabbed his hand, jolting him out of his thoughts.

"Look, Cas!" he said, pointing across the street. Before Cas could even distinguish what Dean had seen, the Winchester was pulling him across the street. When they were safely on the sidewalk and walking again, Cas looked at Dean curiously.

"What did you see?" he asked.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing," Dean repled nonchalantly. "I just wanted an excuse to hold your hand."

He smiled shyly at Cas and the boy was aware for the first time that Dean still hadn't let go of his hand. Cas entwined their fingers and smiled shyly back at Dean. Dean beamed at him and they continued their walk.

 **Sam's POV**

Sam watched Gabe hobble around the hospital room with amusement on his face. The Novak wasn't taking this whole thing too well. Oh, it wasn't the fact that he had gotten shot that was bothering him. It was that he was confined to his room for a few days until the wound had healed at least a little.

Gabe glared at the chair in front of the door, where Lucifer sat, typing away on his laptop. As if sensing his brother's glare, he looked up and raised a single eyebrow.

"It's not my fault, Gabe," he said, going back to typing. "The doctors don't want you to strain yourself while you're still recovering."

"But I feel fine!" Gabe protested. "It doesn't even hurt."

"That's because of the painkillers. They decided that they'd keep you on them until the pain isn't so bad."

"So why can't I at least take a walk around the hospital? There's doctors everywhere, I'll be fine."

"When they said 'don't strain yourself', they meant so that you don't rip your stitches, or something. You're still recovering from that cut on your neck and you lost a lot of blood when you got shot. The answer is no, you cannot go out, you cannot do anything except sit on that bed."

Gabriel pouted and Sam laughed. Gabriel turned his glare on Sam, but for some reason it softened when they locked eyes. Sam got up and sat at the foot of the bed. Gabriel, after much whining on Sam's part, joined him, if only to get him to shut up.

"Come on, Gabe," Sam said after their fifth game of Uno. "It's not that bad."

"Yeah, it kind of is, Sammy," Gabriel replied, and Sam felt that familiar jolt go through his stomach every time Gabe used his nickname. "I don't like being cooped up. There's nothing to do in this hospital."

"Well, Nina's doing the best she can when it comes to games, but you know she can't give us all of the hospital's supply. We aren't the only bored kids in this place." Neither Sam nor Gabriel missed the slightly angry tone that entered his voice when he mentioned Gabriel's favorite nurse, but neither commented on it.

"Ha! So you admit that you're bored, too."

"God, yes. I'm dying without something to do."

"Well," Gabe said softly, "you don't have to stay here."

"Shut up, idiot," Sam said, lightly punching Gabriel's uninjured arm. "I'm not going to leave you here with no one but Lucifer for company. I'm not cruel, you know." They both looked over to see if he would respond to the jibe.

"Ha ha fucking ha," he said dryly, making both teens laugh.

"I'll text Dean and see if he and Cas can come by."

Sam texted his brother, ignoring Gabriel's impatient fidgeting. After a few moments he looked up and turned off his phone.

"They're on their way right now," Sam reported, "and they're bringing something for you."

"What?" Gabriel asked, looking like a little kid who was just told that they were getting a puppy.

"It's something sweet and sugary, with lot's of artificial coloring and flavors…" Sam said, watching Gabe's eyes light up with every word that he said.

"Candy!" Gabe crowed happily. Sam nodded and Gabriel whooped, causing Luci to look up and scowl at them.

"Do you mind?" he snapped. "I'm trying to get this paper done."

"But school started like, a week ago. How do you already have a paper due?" Gabriel asked.

"College is different than high school," was the only answer they got before the sound of typing once more filled the room.

Sam rolled his eyes and dealt the cards again. Two quick games of Uno later, Dean and Cas finally arrived. Gabriel was ecstatic when he saw that they had brought that huge bag of candy Luci had given him and immediately began shoving gummy bears into his mouth.

Luci watched him with amusement for a while before leaving and putting Cas in charge, not that Sam and Dean needed supervision, but because Gabriel was a "five-year-old in a fourteen-year-old body who has no idea how not to accidentally kill himself". The four of them sat in the small room, bored out of their minds and desperate for some entertainment.

"Hey, I forgot to ask," Gabe mumbled around a mouthful of gummy bears. "Who called the cops that night?"

"Raph did," Cas said, and every pair of eyes swiveled towards him. "When Michael told us that the park maintenance office wasn't picking up, he called the cops and they sent an ambulance just in case."

"Well, I am really glad they did," Sam said, and everyone nodded in agreement.

They decided that, to alleviate the boredom, it would be a good idea to prank call Cas and Gabe's older brothers. Sam knew a trick that could hide the caller ID from whoever you were calling, and they used that to their advantage.

"Hello?" Michael answered the phone after a few rings.

"Hey, man," Sam said, making his voice deep and gravelly. "You totally owe me for finishing this job for you. I got blood on my new shoes! Anyway, I'm right outside, I need you to help me find a place to stash the bodies."

There was silence on the other end of the line and they all waited to hear Michael's response.

"Um, wrong number?," Michael said, and his tone was so confused and scared that they were practically choking from holding in their laughter.

"Don't be stupid, Mike," Sam said. "I can literally see you on the phone right now, you're in your office."

Michael let out a very unmanly squeak and hung up the phone. The four of them burst out laughing as soon as the call ended, and when they were laughing so hard that they could no longer make a sound, they just sat there, clapping their hands like brain-impaired seals.

"Oh, that was perfect!" Cas said when they stopped. He wiped away the tears from his eyes and chuckled breathlessly. "Do Raph next."

So Gabe gave Sam Raphael's number and they waited with held breath until he finally answered.

"This is Raphael," he said, and Sam passed the phone to Dean.

"Hello, Mr. Novak," Dean said, making his voice high pitched and cheerful. "This is Tom from Prevail Adult Diapers. We just wanted to inform you that your order is being shipped from our warehouse at this time."

"What?" Raphael sounded even more confused than Michael had, and Gabe had to hide his giggles in his pillow.

"Yes, sir," Dean continued. "Just to clarify, you ordered one hundred and fifty diapers, correct?"

"Wait-"

"Okay, good. Your order should arrive sometime within the next three to five business days. Have a good day, sir, and thank you for choosing Prevail Adult Diapers."

Dean hung up and they once more burst into laughter, laughing for longer than they had before. Right when they thought they could control themselves, Castiel got a phone call.

"Hello?" he gasped, still chuckling.

"Cas, it's Raph. I need help. Someone is sending diapers to our house!"

And that was it, they were gone. They all died of laughter right there on the floor of a hospital. Castiel hung up before his brother could put together the pieces, and tried to calm his racing heart. The four of them lay gasping on the ground for fifteen minutes before they could control themselves.

"That was even better than the first one!" Dean said, leaning on Cas. It didn't escape the notice of Gabe or Sam how close their mouths were, or how they both had flushed cheeks that had nothing to do with the laughter.

Sam and Gabe smirked at each other and they moved back onto the bed. Gabe sat against the headboard of the bed and Sam sat between his legs, back to Gabe's chest. Gabe started playing with his hair and Sam fiddled with the IV tube in Gabe's arm.

Neither of them noticed the looks Dean and Cas were giving each other as they gazed at their younger brothers.

"Right," Dean said, standing up and pulling Cas with him. "We're going to go see if we can sneak some stuff in here 'cause this is really boring."

Cas only had time to wave a quick goodbye to Sam and Gabe before Dean pulled him out.

"Ten bucks says they're making out."

"I can't even bet against you, I'm pretty sure that's what's happening."

 **Gabriel's POV**

Gabe and Sam sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Sam got restless and decided to find their brothers. They could still see the Impala from the window, so they knew that the two of them were still in the hospital somewhere.

"I'll send pics if I find them," Sam said before slipping out. Gabe waited patiently for ten more minutes (which is an extremely long time for someone with the attention span of a goldfish), munching on the last of his candy and periodically checking his phone.

About the time the candy ran out, his phone finally chimed. He opened the messages app and grinned at the pictures Sam sent him. They showed Cas and Dean in a secluded part of the yard in the back of the hospital, underneath a huge tree. Cas had his arms locked around Dean's neck and Dean's arms were around Cas' waist.

They seemed to be in the middle of a very passionate kiss. Gabe scrolled through the pictures, grinning wider with each one. Dean and Cas opening their eyes from the kiss- Dean and Cas looking right into the camera with shocked expressions- Dean and Cas both blushing and reaching angrily for the phone- Sam running away from two very pissed off seniors-Sam laughing in a closet as Dean and Cas ran by.

Gabe was laughing by the time he had gone through all of them and he sent Sam a text back.

 **Gabriel: Oh my God!**

 **Sam: I know! It's amazing**

 **Gabriel: Well, it's not like we didn't see this coming**

 **Sam: Yeah, but those two were so clueless they could have gotten married and still not said anything to each other**

 **Gabriel: Oh my God, that's even better!**

Gabriel laughed again and thought. He had to tell someone, well, three someones. He started a group chat with Mike, Raph and Luci and was about to send the pics when something occurred to him. He had no idea how his brothers would react. He didn't want to cause any trouble for his brother. He decided to just ask.

 **Gabriel: Hey, do you guys think being gay is wrong?**

 **Michael: No, why?**

 **Raphael: I don't care what people do with their lives.**

Lucifer: It's fine. But why are you asking?

Gabriel smiled deviously and sent the pictures, waiting for their reactions. It wasn't exactly what he was expecting.

 **Raphael: It's about time**

 **Lucifer: I know, the sexual frustration between those two was enough to make me want to gouge my own eyes out**

 **Michael: Luci, don't be overdramatic**

 **Michael: Although, I agree with you, those two had no idea they were flirting with each other ever since they met.**

 **Raphael: Exactly! They even went on a date! To the movies! How has it taken this long for them to grow a pair and kiss?**

Gabriel had to turn off his phone, he was laughing so hard. He clutched his stomach and blinked away tears. He was still giggling when Sam burst in, out of breath and red from exertion.

"I finally lost them," he said, peering out of the window in the door. He looked at Gabriel and noticed the chuckles still pouring out of his mouth. "What's so funny?

Gabriel let Sam read the texts and watched as Sam proceeded to laugh his ass off at the foot of the bed. Sam, after getting all the laughter out of his system, sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"That is priceless," he said, smiling. Gabriel nodded and moved to sit next to his friend, tugging his IV pole along with him. Sam looked up and Gabriel noticed how his big hazel eyes were even bigger with tears in them. He hadn't even realized that he had stopped breathing until Sam said "Gabe, breathe."

He sucked in a breath and let it out slow, still staring at Sam's face. The boy's eyebrows knotted in confusion and his head tilted a little, something Gabe thought only Cas did. He could tell that Sam was about to ask a question so he decided to do it now, before he got distracted or lost the nerve. He leaned forward and quickly pressed his lips to Sam's.

It felt as good as he thought it would, so he left his lips there a little longer. He was starting to pull away when Sam reached up and pulled his head back down, moving his lips in sync with Gabe's. By the time they pulled away from the kiss, they were both breathless and blushing.

"I hope that was all PG," said a voice from the door, and they spun around quickly. Cas and Dean were standing in the doorway, grinning maniacally. Dean had his phone out and showed them a few pictures of the two of them lip-locked.

"I'm so sending these to your brothers," Dean said. His fingers flew across the keyboard and he looked up, triumphant. Gabriel just smirked and handed his phone to Cas. His brother was confused at first, but as he read through the steadily increasing number of texts his brothers were sending to each other, he blushed furiously.

"I cannot believe you," he hissed at his brother. Gabriel just shrugged and laughed.

"You guys sent those pics of me and Sam to them, so now we're even," Gabe replied. A sudden thought occurred to him and he grabbed Dean's phone, ignoring the older boy's protests. He found what he was looking for and read through the messages Mike, Raph and Luci were now sending about _him._

 **Michael: Oh my God**

 **Lucifer: They're so cute together!**

 **Raphael: I kinda saw this coming, too**

 **Michael: He's only fourteen, guys!**

 **Lucifer: Calm down, it's not like they're having sex**

 **Michael: I cannot believe you just said that**

 **Raphael: How sure are we that they aren't having sex?**

 **Lucifer: We aren't ;)**

 **Michael: Jesus Christ, Luce, are you trying to give me a heart attack?**

 **Raphael: Gabriel and Sam are good kids, I'm sure they'll wait until they're ready**

 **Lucifer: If their relationship even lasts that long**

Jesus fucking Christ. Gabriel was going to kill them.

 ***FYI I have no idea what the weather is like in Kansas, but for the sake of this story, let's pretend that storms like this happen.**


End file.
